Three Weeks
by Brynnifer
Summary: A serial killer on the loose in the streets of Chicago sets his sights on Abby.
1. Default Chapter

First off, thanks to Rachel, Olivia and Safnerd...ya'll are awsome!

I don't own anything from ER..sadly.

The constant screeching of the alarm clock, was enough to make Jake finally open his eyes. Normally he was a heavy sleeper, and normally if the alarm clock went off, Abby would reach over and shut the thing off before Jake even had time to hear it. So when the thing kept sounding, Jake pulled himself out of his dreamland. It was the one noise he could not stand, he considered it one of the most annoying sounds on the planet, maybe that's why the genius who had first invented the alarm clock, chose that particular sound. Damn him. Once Jake got over the annoyance of the alarm, he noticed something..or rather someone was missing. Abby, who would usually sleep on the right side of the bed, was gone. But Jake knew exactly where she would be, the same place he would often find her.

Yawning he stood up and headed into the living room, and there she was, asleep on the couch, the television still on. He reached over and took a blanket from the chair and draped it over her, wanting to make sure she wasn't cold, he gently tucked the old thing close to her body. His hand grazed the side of her face and suddenly she bolted up, wide awake.

Jake saw the fear in her eyes, and how the color had drained from her face, she must have been having another nightmare. "Abby, its okay, its me!" he said quietly, He had become use to the nightmares now, that's why she was on the couch. Although they weren't as frequent as when she had first experienced her abduction, they still came multiple times a week. Abby would wake up, early in the morning, and not be able to immediately fall back to sleep. She would go out into her living room, turn on the TV and eventually fall asleep, it was a pattern now. Jake waited until she had calmed down, before reaching over to her, he grabbed her hand and gently squeezed. "Another nightmare?"

"Yeah," Abby threw off the blanket and placed her head in her hands. "What time is it?"

"Just past nine, do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Jake nodded, he knew better then to push Abby when she didn't want to talk about something.

"How about breakfast?"

Abby shot him a smile, which in turn made him smile. "Your going to cook?"

"I never said that, we can go out. We don't have to be at work for another two hours," he stood up and pulled her to her feet, "Care to join me Dr. Lockhart?"

"Let's see, eat a huge breakfast before going to the ER and dealing with the poor and unfortunate sick and hurt souls of Chicago," ah typical sarcastic Abby, her sarcasm let Jake know that the nightmare had not been that bad this time around.

"Hey, I didn't say you had to eat," he pulled her close to him, "I, on the other hand, am starving. But you know what they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!"

"Alright, but on one condition, I get to pick the restaurant," she was actually wanting to go out and eat, the apartment kitchen had only the bare essentials in it, neither Jake or her had had time to go to the grocery store, and she was actually hungry for something other than hospital food.

"Deal, which one are going to?"

"Haven't decided yet," Abby said as she pulled out of his grasp and headed towards the shower, "I need to shower, give me half an hour then we'll go," and then their bedroom door slammed shut. Jake knowing full well that he wouldn't get breakfast for another hour now, headed into their kitchen and started some coffee, before grabbing a pop tart and sticking it in the toaster.

As he ate the pastry, the news caught his attention, he grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

"Police still have no leads in the case of the Michigan Avenue Strangler, we have heard unconfirmed reports that the FBI is now involved in the investigation do to the fact that the suspects, most recent victim, Mary Collins, was kidnapped from Indiana and her body found in Chicago, the Strangler has now crossed state lines, which would give the FBI full command in the case." the news anchor began as the screen switched to the picture of Lisa Washington, and then various scenes of the police gathering evidence from multiple sights. "The Michigan Avenue Strangler has now claimed four victims, police are urging anyone who has any information to call the Chicago police department immediately. There is now a $25,000 reward leading to the whereabouts of the suspect,"

"What a psycho," Jake said to no one in particular as he took another sip of his coffee. Suddenly the familiar sound of a pager going off sounded through the apartment. "Damn it," Jake whispered as he began searching for the one that was going off. He finally found the pager, buried beneath a backpack. It was Abby's that was going off, the message was simple, get to work ASAP. He sighed, there went breakfast with Abby. If they were lucky, she could grab a doughnut from one of the many concession stands that littered the sidewalk leading to the hospital.

"Abby?" he knocked on the bedroom door before entering. He could tell she was finished with her shower, the water was no longer running. To his surprise, she was not only out of the shower but was already dressed, damn it, if it wasn't for the ER, they could have had that nice long breakfast together.

"Let me guess," she started as she pulled her hair into a pony tail.

"Yeah," he tossed the pager to her, which she easily caught.

"Let's see its Monday morning, I bet they're getting slammed. To many drunks, not enough doctors, I wonder what Susan would do if I deicide to ignore this page," she clipped the pager onto her black pants before sitting down on the bed to put on her shoes.

"Probably shit a brick." Jake said looking over at her, "and then she'd page me until I answered her. Of course there's always the possibility she'd have an MI too from worrying about you." It was true, since her kidnapping, everyone became concerned when Abby didn't immediately answer her page.

"Jake," Abby said punching his arm, "you are not funny in the slightest, you know that?" She looked at the number on the pager, "guess breakfast is going to have to wait... I am needed in the ER."


	2. Watching

Disclaimer: nope, don't own them..sadly.

From the moment he had first laid eyes on her, he knew that she was the one. Unlike the others, she was perfect, he was sure of it. He had been watching her now for close to two weeks, each day falling more and more in love with her. Yet, she didn't seem to know that he existed. They had literally run into each other once, in the staircase. She had been running downstairs to the ER, answering an urgent page, and he had been heading up the upstairs. The collision had knocked both of them to the ground, sending papers flying everywhere.

"Oh I'm so sorry," he reached his hand out to her, and she accepted it.

"No problem," she smiled at him, and ran off. He watched as she raced towards the trauma room ready to save yet another life. He loved watching people, it was his hobby. And now the police were involved. The problem was that the people he liked to watch often ended up dead. The police and now the FBI weren't to fond of his hobby, and now the FBI was leading the investigation. To be specific, Special Agent Mike Fisher was the man in charge. And he had vowed to hunt down and throw the suspects ass, whosever it maybe, in jail. The man had laughed at that point, here was this FBI agent promising the public that the murderer would be apprehended, yet they didn't even know who he was.

The media had grown tired of referring to him as the suspect. After all, how many other crimes had nameless suspects in them? His were crimes that had captivated the city of Chicago for a while, and by the time the fourth body had turned up, the whole country was now enthralled with. He deserved a more detailed handle then just the suspect. Now he was referred to as the Michigan Avenue Strangler. the only reason he had that name was because his first victim, he had taken from Michigan Avenue, and then later strangled her, simple as that. Oh well, he didn't really care what they called him, as long as nobody found out his real name. If someone did, he would be in trouble. But nobody suspected him, hell who would suspect Martin Richards, the quite janitor that worked at County General? He had seen an interview days before on CNN. A retired profiler was being grilled about what he thought the suspect was, what he did, how he lived, every tiny detail. All that the profiler could come up with, was the same as the FBI had came up with.

Most likely, according to the highly respected profiler, the Michigan Avenue Strangler was a single male, probably in his late thirties, lived alone, and that some time in his past, an event had happened that involved some sort of medical personal. Whether it was a doctor, nurse, x-ray tech. nobody knew. Yet, the only connection the most renowned crime solving agency in the world could come up with, was that all four of his victims had worked in some sort of health care related field. The first had been a nurse that worked at a local pediatrician's office, she had been the one that started everything. Lisa Washington had been her name, the only victims name he could actually remember. The second and third had both been x-ray techs from local hospitals, the third had been a phlebotomist, and the fourth was another nurse.

He laughed, the FBI was way behind him, he already knew who his next victim was, and she wasn't a nurse. No, this one was a doctor, a gorgeous doctor who had everything to offer him. She was smart, caring, funny, everything he could ever want, all rolled into one. Maybe she would be the one, the one who listened, who would do everything he asked, unlike the others. That was the problem with them, they wouldn't do anything he asked them to do, but this one, she was different, he had faith in her. And tonight that young doctor he had fallen in love with, oh yes Martin had definitely fallen in love with her, captivated, bound in a way that he had never thought possible, would become his next victim. The first doctor to be added to his list. Yet, maybe he wouldn't have to just get rid of her like he did the others. Maybe, just maybe, she would be the one to cooperate and do what he asked, he had an incredible about of faith in her.

He threw himself back into his work, never finding it to be challenging. He knew that he could be better than some simple janitor working in an county facility. This was menial work and he was much better than that. He had a degree from Harvard and was sweeping the floors of a hospital, when he knew he should have been the one running the damn place. Posh know it all doctors, think that they were better than everyone, well they weren't and he was going to make sure that they all knew just how smart he was. His doctor, oh yes she would see, she would know that he was better than the job that they had given him, she would be the one to put him back up on top where he belonged. This day was passing too slow, no amount of watching the clock was going to make things any easier, she would work her full 12 hour shift, if not longer just as she did every day the only difference was tonight, she wouldn't be punching that clock.

As he walked into the crowded waiting room, he bent down and picked up a lose newspaper. The front page headline was of course, all about him. He stifled a smile as he pretended to read it over, if he had actually had smiled, someone in the waiting room might have become suspicious. After all, who smiled while reading an article about the most wanted man in the United States at the moment, only the man himself. As he turned around to finish cleaning up, he saw her in the waiting room, near the soda machine.

"Stole your money, didn't it?" he asked as he approached her.

"Yeah, do you mind?" she asked.

"Not at all." he reached into his pocket and pulled out his key ring, and searched for the one key that would open the machine and allow the doctor her soda. "What kind do you want?"

"Just a coke,"

"Needing some caffeine tonight huh doctor?" he smiled at her as he handed her the beverage. She returned the smile, before opening the can and taking a sip.

"After this shift, defiantly." suddenly her pager went off, singling that she was needed back inside the ER.

"Duty calls," he said, desperate to have some sort of conversation with her, before she would hate him. He was sure that she would hate, no, despise, him after tonight, at least for a while, until she realized that they were meant for each other.

"That it does," she turned around and began to walk away but stopped, "thank you again," she raised the can to identify exactly what she was thanking him for, then disappeared into the busy ER hallway.

"Damn dude," an unfamiliar male voice interrupted his thoughts. "She's hot! Is she a doctor?" he turned to see a teenage boy looking in the same direction as he was.

"No, she just wears a white lab coat because she feels like it," if there was one thing Martin could not stand, it was ignorant people. He watched as the kid's expression as he realized that the janitor was joking with him.

"What's her name? Think they'll let me request her?" The kid was still staring in the direction in which the doctor had disappeared, as if he stared hard enough, she might reappear.

"That's Dr. Lockhart, she's a damn good doctor, if you ask me,"

"Do you know if she's seeing anyone?"

Martin shot the kid a you've-got-to-be-joking glance "Sorry dude, I've heard she has a pretty important date tonight," and with that Martin went about his work, counting down the hours until Abby Lockhart was his. His patience was coming to an end as he made his way back to the cart of janitorial supplies the newspaper still in his hands.

"Bring it on Fisher," he crumpled up the newspaper and threw it in the trash can of his cleaning cart before heading back into the ER. He thought about it more, was Fisher daring him? He didn't have a problem playing the FBI game if that's what the agent wanted, he had eluded them thus far, why not continue the game? If that's what Fisher wanted, then that's what he was going to get. He couldn't help but look in the trauma room at her as he passed. He watched as she desperately tried to get the patients heart pumping again, but he couldn't stop at stare at her, later, but not now. So he went about his work, knowing that tonight was the night. Tonight, that young doctor would become victim number six.


	3. Unlucky Number 13

Disclaimer: I do not own them..sadly.

Her day could have been going better, three pairs of scrubs later and a half cup of cold coffee that she had managed to sneak from the newspaper stand across the street in her hand, her pager still beeping in the pocket of her lab coat. Not that she needed to look at it, she was an intern in the ER who the else would freaking be paging her in the middle of a shift. It had better have been something good or she might have to take off a head or two, Ray had better not be wanting her to pop some old woman's boil for him.

"Hey Frank, I was just paged," Abby rounded the admit desk to come face to face with the desk clerk.

"Yeah, GSW five minutes out. Lewis wants you to handle it." Frank didn't so much as glance up at Abby as he shoved a donut into his mouth. "Sam and Chuny are already in the bay waiting," he added as she dawned the familiar yellow trauma attire, and headed outside to join her coworkers.

The day had been full of trauma's, she had already worked in twelve, this would be number thirteen, never a lucky number.

The cold blast of the air took her by surprise. It had been warm when she had first arrived at work, hours ago, but now it wasn't just cold, it was freezing, even for Chicago. The yellow gown and her lab coat provided little protection against the weather. She rushed over to where the two nurses were standing huddled together.

"When did it get so cold?" she asked as she began rubbing her arms, desperately trying to conserve body heat.

"Cold front came in couple hours ago," Chuny informed Abby, laughing as the doctor began to jump around.

"That ambulance better get her soon or I swear," Abby whispered more to herself then anyone else. Suddenly the sound of sirens were heard, and then the sight of the ambulance flying around the corner.

"Oh very nice Dr. Lockhart," Sam joked as the ambulance skidded to a stop, and the paramedics hopped out.

"Hey Dr. Lockhart, " Todd, one of the EMT's greeted her as he ran around to the back of the rig. Abby couldn't immediately put a name to his face, she was thankful for the name tag, yet she did recognize him. She knew that he was relatively new on the team, and that he often brought patients to the ER, but she had never really had time to stop and talk with him. Chatting wasn't exactly a priority when people were being pulled out of ambulance. "fourteen year old, with multiple GSW's, lost the vitals in the field,"

Instantly Abby felt panic begin to arise, but she kept her cool. Ever since her abduction months before, anytime a gunshot wound was rushed to the ER, she was forced to rationalize the situation. She had been lucky lately, she hadn't had to work on any kids with bullets lodged in their bodies. Her luck had run out just then, as her latest patient was rushed into the ER. Patient number thirteen.

By the time they got him into the trauma room, it had become painfully obvious that no matter how far medical technology had come, Abby could not save this patient.

"Abby," Sam knew that there was no chance, her tone of voice urged the doctor to stop the CPR, to stop fighting for a life that could not be saved.

Abby suppressed her emotions that were threatening to take over, and maintained her professional attitude. "Time of death, 21:17," she signed off on the chart before ripping off her stained trauma gown and throwing it on the equally bloody floor, before rushing out the door. She needed to keep busy, keep her mind off of what had just happened. The more she thought about the kid that had just come in, the more she thought about her abduction. She couldn't get the image of Lil' C staring down at her as she pounded on his brothers chest, and the look upon his face once he realized that he had just lost his older sibling. Abby didn't know what to think about Lil' C. The older two, CJ and Loose, were old enough to understand the ramifications of their actions. She hadn't been so sure about Lil C though, after all he couldn't have been older then fourteen, his male role models were two ganger bangers, teaching him that kidnapping and murder, were perfectly acceptable in society. In short, Abby didn't blame Lil' C one bit, and if she ever had the opportunity to come face to face with him again, she would forgive him, she already had.

"Abby?" she hadn't even realized that Susan was staring at her. "Abby!" she practically shouted that time. She had seen Abby walk out of the trauma room, making a bee line for the pile of charts that had been rapidly accumulating on the desk. She seemed to be deep in thought, and judging by the room she had just left, whatever had happened, had to have been bad. Then Susan remembered, she had stuck Abby in the GSW, apparently the patient had not made it. She finally managed to get her best friend's attention. "He didn't make it did he?"

"No," short, sweet and to the point. Abby reached over to grab another chart, but Susan stopped her. Losing a patient was always hard, especially when the patient was a kid, a fourteen year old kid at that. Putting Abby into that trauma was a stupid move on Susan's part. Even though Abby didn't seem to be suffering from her ordeal months before, Susan wanted to be absolutely sure that her best friend was indeed okay.

"Abby," Susan purposefully left the sentence open ended, knowing that Abby would know the point she was trying to get across.

"Don't start Susan, I'm fine, please just leave it alone," she reached over and took the chart back. Abby knew what Susan was going to ask her about, but her kidnapping months before was the last thing she wanted to discuss at the moment. Why did everyone always think that she wanted to talk about it? She never had, and most likely never would.

"You want to talk about it?" Abby just glared at her. She had been at the hospital for over sixteen hours now, it was fair to say that she was in a bad mood, and now Susan was asking her to talk about something, she had refused to talk about even when she had been returned. Abby vividly remembered how it all went down, how Pratt had caught her in his arms as she rushed into the ER, heading for the trauma room. He knew instantly something was wrong and immediately called Susan over, it took nearly three hours for Abby to convince them that she was fine, and that all she needed to do was to go home and sleep, but she finally did. The staff was reluctant to let her go, yet they didn't have a choice. She returned to work the next week, desperately trying to pretend that nothing had happened, but evenif she wanted to do that, her coworkers simply wouldn't let her forget. The only person who actually was able to distract her mind from the previous week's events, was Jake. And she thanked God, everyday that he had, he had kept her going. And he was still here for her, whenever she needed him. She had Jake to talk to, if she wanted to, but right now, she didn't want to discuss the issue.

"Not really, now excuse me, I have patients to attend to," Susan backed off, she didn't want to push Abby anymore then Abby didn't want to discuss the issue. Things had been stressful for everyone lately. Abby's friends, even though they were worried about her, gave her the space and privacy they knew that she needed. There was no signs that she had fallen into any kind of self destructive pattern as of yet, but nobody wanted to take that chance, everybody would continue to look after Abby, even if Abby didn't want them to.

"Okay Abby, I'll see you later," she watched as her best friend disappeared down the hall, knowing that Abby was not fine as she claimed to be.

Abby headed straight into the lounge, suddenly not wanting to deal with anymore patients. Susan was right, she shouldn't have been working on that boy. But Abby needed to prove not only to herself, but also her colleagues, that she was tough, that she could handle anything that came her way. She hadn't been hurt, people had been through much worse, she could get through this.

"Hey," Jake walked in and his arm immediately enveloped her in a warm, compassionate embrace. Abby fought to hold the tears at bay, but it was useless, they started to roll down her cheeks. "It's okay," He said softly one arm around her as he guided her over to the couch, holding onto her.

As soon as they sat down, Abby's head collapsed into Jake's chest as the tears silently fell, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you Abby, I know babe I know. " His arm gently rubbing her back now as he let her cry on him for as long as she needed to. It hurt him to see her like this more then anything. He hadn't been there when it had happened and had only found out about it by accident, but now he was determined to be there for her when he couldn't have been months before.

Jake knew that Abby was not completely over her ordeal yet, for that would take a long time, that was something that you didn't get over in a matter of days or weeks. He knew that he needed to reassure her that even though she pretended to be strong he knew better and he would be there for her no matter what. Her tears had slowed to the point that they were no longer a constant stream.

"How did you know I was in here?" she asked, not lifting her head off of Jake's chest.

"Susan, came and got me" Jake said not relinquishing his hold on her, "she's really worried about you, we all are." Abby nodded not knowing what else to do. Jake and the others were to say the least, extremely worried about Abby. With the outbreak of new murders that were plaguing Chicago, they couldn't help but worry. She had been through enough with the kidnapping and he knew that they had to be making her even more nervous than what she would have been without them.

Susan, Dubenko, Pratt, Carter, Luka, Sam, as well as the nurses, along side Jake were all very over protective of Abby. They didn't want this to hinder her recovery or add even more stress to her life, but most importantly, none of them wanted anything else to happen to her. While the city was on edge wondering when he was going to strike next, there wasn't a female medical field member in Chicago who wasn't constantly looking over her shoulder living in fear that she would be the next one that they found. Of course the ER had tons of female staff, but this was Abby. Abby who had already been through the experience, the last thing she needed to do was relive it.

"Thank you Jake," she said her head nestled again his chest. She found comfort being close to him, the familiar smell of his cologne made her feel even more at ease, a sense of security.

"Your welcome babe." Jake said as he placed a small tender kiss on her forehead, he held her like that for a while, not daring to move away. He knew that for Abby to have given him some kind of emotional return, had to have been hard. She wasn't the kind of person who relied on others for anything and the fact that she was leaning on him when she needed someone, spoke louder than any words she could ever speak. He looked down to see that she had started to fall asleep. A long shift, combined with the emotional tidal wave she had just experienced, would knock anyone out. "Abby, come on," he helped her stand and together they walked out the door to the admit desk.


	4. Exam Three

**Disclaimer: I do not own them..sadly.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, ya'll are great!**

Martin was mopping the floor, when he saw the two exit the lounge. Immediately, he felt his blood to begin to boil. How dare someone else be with her, comfort her, hold her like that other doctor was. He took a deep breath, remembering that he would be the one holding her tonight. He kept his gaze upon the two, as they approached a blond haired doctor at the desk. He didn't know her name, nor did he care. Martin listened intently as three doctors began to talk. "Go lie down in exam three, its empty. God, you've been on for over sixteen hours. We'll come get you if we need you." the blond doctor instructed. Abby nodded in response, to tired to argue with her boss, the emotional stress of the shift had taken its toll on her.

"Come on," he watched as the male doctor grabbed her hand and let her away, walking her into exam three. Ten minutes later, he reappeared, this time by himself. Abby was alone and probably sleeping. However, he faced one problem, a rather big problem, and that was how exactly to get her out of the hospital. Then as if it was a sign he saw it, the empty laundry cart left parked up again the wall, there waiting for him was the solution to his problem. He waited until Jake was clear from the room. It was all to easy now, nobody would suspect him. Even if they discovered she was missing immediately, he was in the clear. He took in a deep, relaxing breath, cool and collected as he knew he needed to be, before heading into exam three. As he passed by he grabbed the laundry cart, pausing just a moment to make sure he was all together, his hand went into his left pocket searching to reassure himself that the vial and syringe that he would be needing were in there. He was only going to get one shot at this. Once he knew that everything he needed was in place, he as quietly as he could pushed the door open, slipping into the exam room where Abby was sleeping completely unaware of his presence. He shut the door quietly and walked over to her sleeping form. He shook his head, almost laughing at how easy this was going to be, he pulled out the vile and syringe filling it with the contents that would knock her out for awhile. He had drawn up the perfect amount, when the vile slipped from his hands and went crashing to the floor. He looked at Abby knowing that she probably would have heard the noise, and he was right. Her eyes shot open searching for the source of the noise, and their eyes met. Abby saw the needle in his hand, and immediately shot up in bed, ready to run. The idea of being alone in a dark room with a stranger who was quickly approaching her with a hypodermic needle was not exactly comforting to the young doctor. But the man was to quick, he pushed her back down on the gurney, one hand pinned her to the bed, while the other went to her mouth, preventing her from making any noises, anything, that would alert her friends of the danger she was in.

"No, no, none of that Dr. Lockhart," the fear that he saw in her eyes, excited him, made him feel so much more powerful. "Your going to go back to sleep for a while," he shifted his position so that he could easily inject her. But Abby was ahead of him and twisted her body away, desperately hoping that she could fight her attacker off. "Oh your going to make this hard huh?" he laughed, as he turned and brought the needle down into her thigh. Her body instantly stilled, whatever he had used was powerful. But her mind was racing, why her, why again? Those were just a few of the many questions running circlesthrough her mind at that moment.

"That's it, good girl, just close your eyes, don't worry it will be okay" Martin kept a hand firmly over her mouth, the other was lovingly stroking her hair back, away from her face. He watched as she struggled to remain consciousness, but her fight was futile, the drug had done its job. He laughed silently, Abby was little, her body simply could not handle as big as a dose as he had used on his previous victims. Once he was sure that she was out, he gently lifted her from the bed, sending the sheets and blankets to the floor, before placing her in the cart. He then bent down and picked up the linen, and placed the crumpled sheets and blankets over Abby. Now the cart just looked like a full hamper of dirty sheets, and not an unconscious doctor lain inside. Nobody would be suspicious of a janitor pushing a laundry cart. He calmly pushed the cart into the busy ER hallway and headedover to the elevators.

"Hey Martin, haven't seen you in a while, everything okay?" Martin stifled a laugh as he began conversing with Abby's colleague, Dr. Carter. He was completely clueless as to the fact that his colleague, his friend, what he used to consider to be his Abby, was lying in the cart, unconscious.

"Yep, everything's fine. Just been busy, how about you?"

Carter nodded before taking a sip of his coffee. "Can't complain". He looked down at the newspaper he was carrying before shaking his head. "Can you believe this guy?" he turned the paper around so that Martin could see the headline. "What gives this person the right to go around and killing these women? He's a sick one, hope they catch him soon," Martin had to bite his tongue, Carter was insulting him, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to defend himself.

"Yeah, sick," The elevator doors finally arrived and Martin pushed the cart inside, "see ya Dr. Carter!" he gave a friendly wave as the doors shut and the elevator began to descend. He got to the basement, and then to the employees entrance, it was completely empty, everyone was working. He had purposely parked as close to the entrance as possible, it would just be easier to escape that way. once again he lifted Abby out of the cart, and headed towards his car. He popped open the trunk to theeight year old black Cadillac with the remote control, and dumped her inside. He watched as her head rolled to the left, "Welcome to your worst nightmare, Dr. Lockhart," and with that, he slammed the trunk shut, and casually drove away, not wanting to attract any kind of unwanted attention to himself; taking Abby away from the safety and security of her friends and into his world.


	5. Gone

**Disclaimer: yep, same as before..not mine.**

"Is she asleep?" Susan asked Jake as he walked back over to the admit desk, reading a chart.

"Yeah, took her about ten minutes, but she actually did fall asleep," Jake responded

"Is she still having nightmares?" asked Susan as she dumped two charts onto the desk. Jake had told Susan weeks earlier, that often Abby would wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to fall back asleep. Abby had finally told him, after the fifth night, in detail, about the nightmares that had plagued her almost nightly. The following day, Jake had confronted Susan about the problem.

"Not as often, she's actually sleeping through the night most of the time." Susan nodded, as the paramedics rushed through the door. "We'll talk about it later okay?" she didn't wait for an answer, as she joined the medics and Jake went back to his patients.

An hour later, Jake was again sitting at the admit desk, lost in thought. He couldn't get Abby off his mind, the way she had cried to him, how she had held onto his scrubs, how she let him comfort her. Abby needed therapy, and when she woke up, he was going to tell her that she had to go. She would fight him tooth and nail, but she needed to go and he would make it his personal mission to make sure that she went. Right now, it seemed to be his only option.

"JAKE!" Susan snapped at him this time, she had been talking to him for a good five minutes and had realized that the medical student was far from paying attention to her. They all worked long hours and it took it's toll on everyone, seemed that Jake had mastered the art of sleeping with one's eyes open now too.

"What! Sorry Susan, what were you saying?" Jake grumbled as he brought his attention back to the land of the awake, a cat nap was all he was really after right now. He was actually surprised that no one had even noticed that while he had charts in front of him he hadn't been working on them, actually rather engrossed in a good dream.

"Is Abby awake? I'm just going to send her home, she doesn't need to be here." she put her charts down on the counter. Susan looked over just as Jake glanced at his watch.

"Oh shit, I was supposed to wake her up an hour ago. Abby is going to kill me." he rushed off towards exam three not wanting the wrath of his girlfriend on his head right now either, while everyone knew Abby needed a nap, Abby seemed to be the only one against the idea. Susan followed hot on his heels. He slowed down when he reached the door, the last thing he wanted to do was rush in, making a bunch of noise, scaring her even more. He slowly opened the door and walked in.

"Abby?" the gurney was empty, the blankets and sheets gone. He and Susan walked further into the room.

"Abby, are you in here?" there was no sign of her. Jake felt his heart jump into his throat. "Susan, can you check the bathroom, I'm going to go look in the lounge," he was trying to remain calm. They both left the room, heading towards the designated rooms, and each reemerged seconds later, fear already evidentin both of their eyes.

"Jerry, have you seen Abby?" Susan shouted to the desk clerk, who shook his head. "Page her, now," the last time they couldn't find Abby, everyone had dismissed it, saying she had just gone for a walk, gone to blow off some steam, when in fact she had become part of a very dangerous gang war.

Over the span of twenty minutes, they paged her six times, Susan had contacted security to keep an eye out for the doctor, and Jake had run over to the Jumbo Mart to see if she was there. There was still no sign of Abby.

"Susan, what if," Jake was now extremely worried. Abby wouldn't just walk away, not with how worried she knew everyone was. His voice was barely holding back the emotion that was threatening to overtake him.

"No, not yet okay! She's fine Jake! Jerry, page her again," she ordered. Susan didn't want to jump the gun and assume the worst just yet. This was a big hospital she might have just been up on the roof, smoking and not heard her pager going off. But then again, Abby knew better than to not answer a page. Susan took a deep breath in and started to climb the stairs, might as well check there first. Still, no Abby. Susan had asked every member of her staff when they had last seen her. The most recent was Sam who had last seen Abby in the trauma. Nobody had seen her since. Surely, if Abby had been walking around the ER, someone would have noticed.

As time ticked by, it became painfully obvious that Abby was missing. Susan didn't know what to do, she didn't want to give in to the fact that any one of the horrible scenarios running through her head could be accurate, but she knew that if something happened and she could have acted sooner, she'd never be able to live with herself. She looked at the clock. One hour, it had been a full hour since they had first noticed Abby was missing. "Damn it!" Susan pushed past Jake and Jerry, reaching for the phone. "I need to speak to Dr. Weaver... No, I realize she's very busy... Okay, well this is more important than a meeting. Just tell her she's needed in the ER, STAT!"

Susan slammed down the phone, and headed to the elevator and jabbed at the button so hard she practically dislocated her index finger. "Could this damn elevator possibly move any slower?" she pounded the button again, this time with her fist, her thoughts to irrational to even consider taking the stairs. "If Weaver's too fucking busy to come down here, I'm going up there, screw budget meetings. She's always telling department heads to show up at more of them anyhow." she thought to herself.

"If you keep pounding on the elevator, you will break it, and according to the budget meeting I just got pulled out of, we may not have the funds to repair it. Now speaking of said meeting, what was so important that you saw it fit to have me pulled out to come down here?"

Kerry Weaver's voice in the ER was one that you could not mistake for anyone else's. Sure they had all been on the end of one of her rants, some of them more than one. Jerry had gotten it when he blew up the ambulance bay, Susan had gotten it several times over various administrative things since taking over the ER. While at times you knew the woman had a heart when it came to her staff, there were other times that everyone had debated if she was even human. Right now was one of those moments, granted once Susan had told her what was going on and maybe Kerry's tone and demeanor would change when she realized the full scope of the situation.

"I just thought you might want to know that we think something has happened to Abby. We can't find her, she's missing, though clearly the rising prices of foley catheters is a much more pressing subject," Susan's sarcasm and rage were completely unrestrained.

After a moment of silence and shock, Kerry opened her mouth to speak. Then closed it again, trying to figure out exactly what to say. Finally, "Are you certain she isn't on the premises, or maybe she just stepped out," this was Dr. Weaver's attempt to rationalize.

"You think I would be calling you if I wasn't absolutely certain she was missing?"

"Look, I'm sorry, it's just not something I like to have happen more than once. Call the police."

"I thought I should wait for your okay before I did-"

Kerry cut her off before she could finish what she was going to say. "I wouldn't suggest waiting, but either way, I'm here now, so lets get on the phone, shall we?" Kerry rushed off toward admit, while Susan followed quickly behind her. Weaver picked up the phone, dialed and handed off the phone.

"You mean I'm-"

Kerry didn't mean to but she gave Susan that look. "Yes, you are talking to them, now ear to the phone and wait for someone to answer, you have to take charge. You are in charge of this department and she's a member of your staff. Don't let them push you around."

"Hello I need to report a missing person... just over an hour... What? Yes I'm sure it's urgent, I wouldn't be calling if... I understand… no you need to realize… stop cutting me off, she's a member of my staff and they don't just disappear in the middle of … and I know she didn't just go home… " Susan glanced over at Kerry, as if begging for help. The latter quickly grabbed the phone.

"This is Dr. Kerry Weaver, chief of staff at Cook County General, I am calling to report a missing doctor, quite frankly I don't give a damn what your excuse is, this is not a joke, and I don't care if it hasn't been twenty four hours, she is missing and you will have an officer here in twenty minutes or... No, that is not a threat, I'm just... Okay then, I'd like to speak to your supervisor…" After nearly twenty minutes of trying persuade the Chicago police to send down an officer, they finally complied. "Someone will be here soon," Kerry slammed the phone down, she, like Susan, and Jake was extremely worried about Abby's safety now. She had reminded the guy on the other line that Abby was a doctor who had mysteriously disappeared. That had clicked with the guy, like her had put the pieces of a puzzle together. He then informed Kerry that he was sending over a patrol car ASAP. "Susan, does anybody else besides us know about this?" Susan shook her head, not exactly sure where Kerry was going with this.

"Some of them know that Jake and I were looking for her, but that's it."

"Okay let's try and keep it that way until the police show up, then we'll go from there." Susan nodded, not knowing what else to do at that moment. All she could do was worry, worry that her best friend might once again be in serious danger.


	6. It Will be Okay

Disclaimer: still, dont own them..never will.

He slowly pulled the car into his driveway, and into the garage. He turned off the ignition, and shut the garage door, making sure it was fully closed before he got out. The last thing he needed was his neighbors seeing him take an unconscious women out of his trunk. He popped open the trunk and looked inside, she was still out of it, hadn't so much as moved since he had dumped her in there, close to an hour ago. Before he came home, he had stopped to grab a bite to eat and to rent a movie, after all it wasn't like she was going to just wake up anytime soon, Haldol had that effect on people.

"We're here baby," he said leaning forward and retrieving his prize from his trunk. He easily carried her in his arms and into the house. Where he took an immediate left and walked down the hall into the room where she would be spending her last few days. He dropped her onto the bed, not really caring about her well being for the moment, however he took the time to covering her with blankets. He didn't want her to catch cold, where would the fun be in that. He didn't bother with tying her down, for there was no where for her to go. The dark room was windowless, he knew it was soundproof and the only way out was through the door which he had entered and he held the only key. He pulled up a chair, and sat down next to her sleeping form, she was his now, and nobody could take her away. She was perfect for him, unlike the other girls, she was the one. He reached over and placed his hand on her forehead, moving some of her hair out of her face. He watched as her breathing became less steady and more labored, she wasn't in any kind of trouble, the drug was wearing off now, she was starting to wake up, and he wanted to be there when it happened. He glanced at this watch, yep right on time, she would be awake within the next hour or so, he grabbed her hand and leaned back in his chair just waiting for her to open her eyes.

The first thing Abby became aware of was the incredible amount of pressure in her head. It was worse then any hangover she had ever experienced. She quickly realized the pain was not going to dissipate without the help of some powerful painkillers, and painkillers were not going to just magically appear without her getting up. But the thought of even attempting to open her eyes, made her head ache even more. The idea of having to get up and move just did not seem appealing at that very moment. The pain was radiating from her head all the way down into her neck and then shooting throughout her body, there was absolutely no way in hell she would be able to get up from the bed. But she had no choice. Slowly Abby pried her eyes open, it took her a couple of tries, but she was finally able to get them to open and focus all the way, and as soon as she did, Abby knew she was in trouble.

"Welcome back," immediately Abby felt her heart rate increase. This was not the same place she had fallen asleep at, this was not any place she had ever been before. Her eyes darted back and forth, looking around the room, it was windowless, and dark. She could faintly make out the outline of the figure out the man who had just spoken. A million thoughts were racing through her mind, as Abby attempted to push herself into a sitting position, but the dug had left her weak and she collapsed back down onto the bed. "Here," suddenly she felt two strong arms lifting her into a sitting position "let me help you."

Abby knew that she had been drugged with something, it was the only thing that could explain how she was feeling. When he first touched her, Abby jumped, his touch like fire to her. She couldn't defend herself right now, she didn't know what to do. Abby wanted to do nothing but jump up from the bed and run for it, but she didn't have the strength.

"Who are you?" she whispered. The fact that she used her voice for the first time in God knew when, caused her throat to ache.

"Don't worry about that now baby," he smiled over at her, a smile that Abby had seen before, she just couldn't place it yet. It scared her though. The way he stared at her made her shiver, all Abby saw in his expression was pure evil.

"I will worry about it!" she pulled away from, desperately trying to keep the tears at bay.

"You shouldn't, I wont hurt you," his tone was meant to be calming, but nothing could calm her. He reached for her, but she scooted further away, until her back was flat against the headboard. The thought of this person touching her, being near her, made Abby sick to her stomach. She didn't want to think of what he may have done while she was unconscious. As he inched toward her, Abby got braver. "Shh, everything will be okay!" he stood up and moved right next to her, he smelled of lemon detergent, a smell Abby was sure she would never be able to tolerate again. And then Abby saw her opportunity, or what she hoped would be her opportunity. As he reached to move a lock of hair off her face, Abby suddenly kicked, hitting him squarely in the groin. As he fell to the ground groaning and grabbing himself, Abby jumped off the bed planning to make a mad dash directly for the door, but as soon as her feet hit the ground, she collapsed with a thud, the drug still coursing through her body.

Still doubled over from the pain he lunged to where she was lying grabbing her by her hair and yanking her back towards him. God the pain for her should be excruciating and might just teach her a lesson, but he didn't want to mark his precious beauty, no not where it would be visible to his eyes, she was perfect the way that she was, yet he couldn't have her walking all over him. He was in charge and she needed to see that, she needed to know that from this moment on in time that she was and now always would be his. In time she would come to love him, Martin knew that, she was smart and would know that this was for the best, the best for both of them.

"Where do you think you're going baby doll? Huh?" he easily lifted her off of the ground and placed her back on the bed. "That was a very bad idea Abby," he reached into his pocket and once again,pulled out a syringe, he had filled it earlier, knowing that she would probably fight him, that he would probably have to sedate her again. He was right. "You just close those pretty eyes of yours get some more sleep and we'll try this again when you're..." he stalled out for a moment, "well more cooperative." Abby watched as he brought the needle close to her arm. She knew she didn't have the strength to struggle with him, but she wasn't just going to lie there and let this happen. She wanted to sit up, but he hadpinned her down in such a way, that his free hand was restraining any movement by placing it hard down on her stomach.

"Please don't," she whispered, not wanting to be unconscious in a room with this psychopath. For Abby to actually plea to someone, it was obvious that she was beyond just intimidated, she was frightened, scared, terrified. And it took a lot to shake Abby Lockhart, and a lot was just what Martin Richards was.

"I'm sorry, but I have to, you need this, it will help calm you down" he grabbed her arm, squeezing it tight, and brought the needle down into her skin, injecting the clear liquid. Abby jumped when she felt the sting of the medicine, it burned as it washed through her body. She was losing control, her body was losing control. A feeling Abby hated to experience, especially when she was in the hands of a stranger. Her mind flashed back to her patients, when they would first enter the trauma room, how they had absolutely no control over their situation, how they themselves were in the hands of complete strangers. She vowed right then to never ignore her patients questions when they were being fired at her in a trauma, no matter how busy she was, she would always be there to reassure them, let them know they still had some control over what was happening to them. That was, if she ever made it out of here alive, wherever here was.

The room was starting to spin, she could no longer focus on the person in front of her, her eye lids were growing heavy.

"Shh, it will be okay, good girl, just sleep," he placed the now used syringe on the table beside them, before reaching over and stroking her hair. He watched as she fought once again to stay alert. "Give up Abby, its to strong," he smiled down at her, as her body finally gave in, and she once again succumbed to sleep. He bent down and placed a soft kiss on her lips, before standing back up. The bed creaked as he did, his weight no longer making the old thing sag. It had been his bed when he was a child, that's right it was a child's bed. Meant to hold no more then hundred twenty pounds. But it had, it was a reliable thing, it had never failed him, and hopefully neither would its current occupant.

He reached over and tucked the old comforter around her, he wanted to make sure she was comfortable when she woke up. Later, if it came down to it, he could use the blanket as leverage against her. He would purposefully keep the room cold, if she acted up, the blanket would disappear. And if she continued to act up, he would take away more and more things.

The last thing he would take away though, was food and water. He would never want to do that to her, yet, she could always pull the hunger strike stunt. Two of his other victims had done the same thing, but he was smarter then them, he was smarter then everyone. He worked at a hospital, he knew how to start an IV, he would simply force feed them. It had never come to that, but he had to be prepared for anything. Especially with Abby, who was clearly the strongest willed out of all of them. Once she woke up, her life would be nothing like it was before, she would begin to learn and understand exactly just who was in charge now.


	7. Find Her

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Thanks to all my readers for sticking with this!

By now, the entire County hospital knew that something was seriously wrong. When the first police car showed up, it was no big deal, cops were always at the ER. But when the media began showing, everyone became suspicious. Susan and Kerry had tried to keep Abby's disappearance quite, but it was no use when the police and media were interviewing anyone wearing scrubs.

Jake, Susan and Kerry had taken to staying hidden in the lounge, trying to avoid the never ending questions, but wondering the same ones themselves. What had happened to Abby? Where was she? Was she even still alive? They all wanted the answers, but only the answers that had happy endings attached to them, especially the last one.

"Excuse me," the lounge door suddenly opened and two men appeared. "Is Dr. Lewis available?" one of them asked. He was a tall man, dressed in all black, he looked like a man who had power.

"I'm Dr. Lewis," all three doctors stood up to greet the man.

"Agent Mike Fisher,"

"Agent?" Jake's heart skipped a beat, "agent" was not a title that belonged to anyone working in the police force, agent was reserved for people with the FBI, CIA, big crime investigators. The police had to know something, or else the agent would not have been called in.

"Yes, I'm with the FBI," he pulled his badge out and flashed it around. "I'm here to investigate Dr. Lockhart's disappearance,"

"Of course that's why he's here," Jake thought to himself.

"Has anything like this ever happened? I mean has she ever just disappeared?"

"We know what you meant," Jake's patience was wearing thin, the more time they wasted talking in the lounge, the longer it would take to get Abby back. He knew what had happened to his girl friend, and he knew that that's what the FBI was most likely thinking. So if they already knew who had abducted Abby, why were they wasting time talking to him?

"Jake," Susan's voice warned, telling him to keep his temper. She refocused her attention back to Fisher "She was kidnapped from our ambulance bay in January, but the gang returned her a few hours later,"

Fisher nodded as he jotted down some notes in his note pad "did they arrest the people responsible for that?" he watched as all three shook their heads.

By now Jake had lost it, "Do you think that standing here making small talk with me is such a good idea," Jake's patience was wearing thin with the man from the FBI. "I mean she's in danger and you are acting like it's not big deal." He tapped his foot against the ground. "Really shouldn't you be out there actually trying to find Dr. Lockhart?"

"Jake," Kerry started to say something but was immediately cut off.

"No! Abby is gone, don't you understand that Susan? She is a female doctor who just happens to live in Chicago right now and she has vanished, there is no trace of her anywhere. Does that match anyone's profile there Agent Fisher, someone that you might just have interest in, she's in trouble, danger, in over her head and right now you need to get your ass out of this ER and find her." Jake was livid, worried and frustrated right now and his voice showed all the emotion that he was feeling, "you cannot just stand here and wait for her to turn up." Jake turned around looking straight at the FBI agent, "if you won't do something to find her, I swear to God I will do it myself."

Fisher felt this man's anger, after all his girlfriend was more then likely in the hands of a psycho. Who wouldn't be angry? If Jake hadn't been worried or acting like this, Fisher might have become suspicious. "Alright, do you have recent photo of Dr. Lockhart?"

Susan reached into her locker, "I have this one, it was taken around thanksgiving of the past year, she still looks the same now as she did when it was taken." She reluctantly handed over the photo, wondering how she was going to get Jake to calm down. This was definitely once again very stressful on the entire staff, now not only was there a murder loose in Chicago but he had stuck right here at the very ER, within the walls where they had all considered themselves safe.

"Thank you. I just want to let everyone know, we are going to do everything we can for Dr. Lockhart, the media is going to have a field day with this, I just want to warn you. I would advice you not to say anything to them, not until we know what has happened to Dr. Lockhart."

Nobody had noticed that Carter and snuck in and was standing in the corner just absorbing all the information this man from the FBI. Abby was missing, again. And it scared the hell out of him. He waited until the agent had finished talking before making his presence known.

"He has her doesn't he?" everyone turned to look at him, he had asked the question nobody wanted to.

"Who?"

"The Michigan Avenue Strangler," Carter pushed off the wall and went to join the circle.

"I don't know,"

"If you didn't think so, you wouldn't be here Agent Fisher, so why don't you just tell us what we should expect,"

There was a moment of silence as Fisher gathered his thoughts about how exactly to address this. "Excuse me Dr.."

"Carter, John Carter."

"Dr. Carter, I cannot release any information right now, but obviously you already know what the FBI is thinking. If Dr. Lockhart is the victim of our suspect, I'm sure you already know what to expect."

"How long does she have before he.." Susan left the question open ended, she couldn't form the words.

"We don't know,"

"Then what the hell do you know?" Jake yelled, this agent was treating Abby's case as if it was nothing unusual, that it didn't matter if she was in the hands of a killer. Jake watched Fisher's expression, "you don't have anything on him do you? He has been terrifying this city for what a month now? And you still know next to nothing about him? Abby doesn't stand a chance does she?"

Fisher by now, could no longer deal with these doctors criticizing him about his every move. He was a professional and knew exactly what he was doing. The next thing he would say would put them in their place, let them know that the FBI was not just lying down on the job. But it was also a horrible way of gaining the upper hand in situations like this, but it had to be done.

"We know that if Dr. Lockhart is not found alive within two weeks, we will find her body shortly after that," and then he left the room, going back to his task force, hoping to have found something that could lead him to an idea of what exactly had happened to Abby Lockhart.

There was no an eerie silence in the room as what the agent said sunk in even more, no one wanted to say anything let alone think that they didn't have much time for Abby to still be alive. That she could very well be this sick man's next victim. It hit even harder home for Carter, who had fallen victim to a psycho himself. They all just looked at the floor lost in there own thoughts waiting for the man to leave, to do his job, to find their Abby and to find her alive. For none of them was willing to give up hope that she was still alive. She had to be still alive, the other alternative just wasn't acceptable. They had to have faith that Abby would fight for her life, they knew she would. Abby wouldn't just give up. But that didn't mean that her kidnapper wouldn't give up either, that he would let her live. If she was with the Michigan Strangler, the only chance she had was the FBI, and so far they had nothing. Abby was on her own.


	8. Agent Jennings

Disclaimer: yeah, do not own them.

Abby heard the door creak open, she heard him come close her to her, and felt him press his fingers against her neck, checking her pulse. Somehow, Abby, was able to control her heart rate, and therefore had convinced him that she was still asleep. "I need to watch how much I dose you with huh baby doll?" she heard him say to her, as he squeezed her hand. She wanted to pull her hand away, stop him from touching her, but that would let him know that she was awake, the last thing she wanted. She concentrated more on her breathing, when she felt the bed dip down with the her kidnappers' weight now on top of it. "I cant wait until you wake up Abby, we're going to have a wonderful life together! We'll be together forever, just you and me." suddenly Abby heard the ringing of a cell phone, her hand was released and the bed once again rose.

"Hello. Oh hey man, what's up?" Abby waited until she was sure that he had left the room. Whoever had called, had possibly saved her. It was getting harder and harder to control her breathing, when the phone rang, and distracted him from her. She kept her eyes closed for a while longer, listening intently for any movement in the room, she was afraid that this might be a trap, that he might actually be still in the room. That he had somehow known that she was awake, and was just waiting for her to screw up. Finally she gathered up the courage to open her eyes.

The room was lit with a tiny lamp, the only light in the tiny, cramped room. Her muscles protested as she struggled to sit up, she had no idea how long she had been here, how long she had been unconscious. The only furniture in the room, was the bed, and the nightstand next to it. She involuntarily shivered, the air was to cold for her liking. Abby pulled the comforter closer around her, the scrubs and lab coat she somehow still had on, was providing little protection against the chill, but quickly threw it to the floor. The comforter was his, she refused to use anything of his, even if it made her freeze to death. It like her kidnapper, smelt like lemon.

Once she was satisfied that most of the drugs in her body were no longer as affective, she put her feet to the ground, and slowly stood up, this time she was able to maintain her balance. Like the muscles in her back, the ones in her legs ached just as bad. There was no point in moving around the room, except to actually move, to get blood circulating in her sore body once again.

The drug had worn off enough to actually allow Abby to think about her current situation clearly. When she had woken up the first time, her mind was to foggy from whatever she had been drugged with to fully comprehend what was going on. She knew that she had been taken against her will, that she was in trouble, and that she had to try and escape. But the true horror of the current circumstances had eluded her, until now. Now she was fully aware, aware enough to know just whose hands she had probably fallen into. Her mind went even further, if at all possible, into panic mode. She, like the rest of the country, had seen the news reports, witnessed the massive man hunt that was taking place, but Abby never imagined that the person that they were looking for, would target her.

Jake slowly trudged his way back into the ER. The ambulance bay had been blocked off by the police to protect the employees from the massive group of media that had gathered. He looked around, a small shrine had already started to grow. Flowers, cards, balloons and stuffed animals were taking up space against one of the barriers. It was if the public also knew exactly who had kidnapped Dr. Lockhart, even though the FBI had not confirmed it yet. Jake turned around to look once again at the media, he saw all the major stations, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, and then the local news channels. Abby had been missing for just over ten hours now, and already she was the focus of the nations attention. Abby and focus of attention just didn't go together, she hated being the center of attention, this was probably no different.

"Excuse me," he raised his gaze only to see a reporter holding a microphone to him, "are you Dr. Scanlon?" Jake nodded his head, but said nothing. "Are you currently dating Dr. Lockhart?" the questions came flying at him now from various directions. "Who do you think did this?" Jake didn't know what to do, Fisher had told them not to talk to the media, but they were hounding him with questions. Jake looked up into one of the cameras and suddenly felt the urge just to talk. He cleared his voice before beginning.

"Please, just don't hurt her. Just give her back!" he was making an emotional plea now for his girlfriends life. As many people do when they too are facing the same situation Jake was. "Abby don't give up, we're doing everything we can." and then he turned back around and headed into the ER and into the privacy of the lounge. It was anything but private as the agents sifted through the contents of Abby's locker. Jake looked at the agents, eight of them, inspecting her things now strewn across the floor, a wallet, a cell phone, a stethoscope, an item would be picked up, inspected, then tossed aside as though it were of no importance, yet it held so much to Abby, they were her things! Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kerry and Susan watching on as well.

"What the hell are you doing?" he screamed at them, causing everyone causing to turn around.

"Jake, they have to, they're just looking for clues." Susan's voice was caring, compassionate yet scared at the same time.

"Well they're not going to find them in her locker! She didn't disappear from her locker, he took her out of this hospital from exam three. GO LOOK THERE!" he was letting emotion take the best of him now, didn't care what anyone thought anymore.

"JAKE, KNOCK IT OFF!" Kerry stepped up, taking charge. "We are all worried about Abby, okay all of us! Its not like they aren't looking, they are trying, give them that. Get your head out of your ass, quit yelling at them, and help!"

"Fine, what do you want me to do Agent Fisher?" The agent just rolled his eyes as the continued to work not paying any attention to the doctor. This was the typical reaction he got from the loved ones of victims, he had learned not to take it personally.

"Mr. Scanlon, would you mind coming with me?" a female agent that Jake had never seen, had walked up to him, "I'm going back to the crime scene, maybe we could find something" she led him out the lounge and down the hallway. "I'm Agent Jennings," for the first time since Abby had disappeared, Jake felt as if somebody was actually interested in finding Abby, not just wasting time at the hospital. He looked up at her. She reminded him a lot of Abby, her brown hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and she was rather short. "Can you tell me what Dr. Lockhart was wearing when you last saw her." of course the FBI had already received this information but Jennings was trying to help calm him down. She had found that it was better to keep the victims friends and families talking about the person, about their disappearance, rather just to ignore them, except for the pertinent information that the investigators would need. Sadly, this was exactly what Jennings had witness Fisher doing.

"Green scrubs, her lab coat," he said as they walked into the exam room, ducking underneath the yellow police tape. He recalled the last time he saw Abby, how he had literately pushed her into the bed. She had yelled at him, saying that she didn't need the sleep, but it was apparent she did. He had gently tucked the blankets around her, and rubbed her back, knowing full well how to calm her down.

"Was she wearing any kind of jewelry?" Jennings voice interrupted his memory.

"She had a silver watch on, that's it. Abby is simple, all she needed was her watch. Its silver, has congratulations on the back, engraved on the back, I gave it to her a little over a month ago, it was a late graduation present" he paused "Agent Jennings, do you think.."

"What I think doesn't matter, I'm here to help find Dr. Lockhart alive and well." She got down on her knees next to they gurney, pulled out her flashlight and looked underneath the bed. It was if she knew exactly where she could find the next critical piece of evidence. "Well, what do we have here?" she pulled something out. "Well Mr. Strangler, looks like you might have just slipped up," Jake looked down at what she was holding.

"That's a piece of glass Agent Jennings."

"That it is, but its something now isn't?" she stood back up and walked into the busy hallway.

"I don't understand?" they were heading back to the lounge now.

"Glass can come from anywhere, especially a broken medicine bottle, if we know what he used to get her out of here, we can get a lot of information from this piece of glass." they entered the lounge, still the same thing as when they had left. "Excuse me Agent Fisher, I believe we might have something," Jennings walked over to her boss and showed him the piece of glass. Fisher immediately turned to two other agents in the room, his face suddenly had the expression that would kill. He was pissed, and everyone in the room could sense it, without him having to say a word.

"How did you miss this?" he held the evidence up, as the other agents stared at it. "This could be a major piece of evidence, this could help us find her, and you just looked it over?" two agents bowed their heads, the two who had combed the room for such things, knowing they had messed up big time. "We have a life on the line, I'm sure Dr. Lockhart doesn't appreciate the FBI just glancing over something that could potentially save her life, what do you think?" Fisher had complexly forgotten about the doctors in the room, he was to busy reaming the irresponsible agents. "This is the FBI, if your going to make mistakes like this, go join the Chicago PD. Now get your asses back into that room, and find where this piece of glass came from," the two agents ran from the room as Fisher turned back to Jennings, "get this down to the lab ASAP, make sure they get it done first, this is top priority." he handed the glass back to her, and she also left the room. Then Fisher turned back to Jake.

"Mr. Scanlon, I promise you that I will find her, and the son of a bitch that took her. Dr. Lockhart will not become his next murder victim." Jake looked at him, what had come over Agent Fisher. He seemed to be able to read what Jake was thinking. "Dr. Lockhart is a fabulous physician, she treated my daughter after she came in from a car accident. I told her then, that I owed her my life for saving my daughter. I promise you that we will do everything within our powers to ensure the safe return of Dr. Lockhart." Jake nodded Fisher might be an ass, but it wasn't his job to be nice to people, his job was to find them.

As the day went by, Fisher continued about his work in the ER, setting up a command post in the lounge. The ER staff tried to continue on about their work, but it seemed hopeless. The waiting room was packed, after hearing news about Abby's disappearance it had seemed that every sick person decided to come to County, not caring about the wait they would face, they just wanted to be in the middle of the biggest story in the nation right then. Jake had walked back into the lounge when Fisher's cell phone rang.

"Fisher," he answered. "Okay, yeah, no lets not mention that to the media yet, okay see you soon" he turned his attention back to Jake. "Haldol, that's how he drugged her." the crime lab had analyzed the broken piece of glass as soon as Jennings and brought it there. But it had still taken all day.

"But if he used Haldol, he would have had to have access to it," the idea of Abby being drugged with a medication that she had been around all her life, the drug that had been used to keep her mother cooperative, was now being used on Abby herself. But not because Abby had a mental illness, but because someone with a mental illness had decided himself that Haldol would be an affective drug to knock someone unconscious, whoever had kidnapped Abby had been right on the money. Jake didn't think that he would ever be able to prescribe Haldol again.

"Which means, he could be working in a hospital, hellit could be County." the color from Jake's face drained. Was it possible that he had come face to face with Abby's kidnapper and never known it?


	9. Broken Promises

Disclaimer: nothing new, still don't own them.

Abby slowly came drifted back to conciseness, her head was pounding again, but unlike last time, she remembered what was happening. To scared to open her eyes, she lied still for awhile listening for any signs that she wasn't alone. Hearing nothing but her breathing, she began to slowly open her eyes. She was indeed alone, leaving her, once again, able to think about her present situation. She still couldn't remember much after she had cried to Jake, after he had tucked her into bed. She remember how he had rubbed circles on her back, desperately trying to calm her down, how he actually accomplished it.

"I'll protect you Abby, I wont let anything happen to you, I love you," he had repeated the mantra over and over until she fell asleep. That was it, the last thing her mind would let her remember, she could vaguely recall the man coming into the room, but it was nothing more. She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest, Jake had promised that he would protect her, now she was here, in the hands of a murderer. Jake had broke his promise to her. She couldn't trust anyone anymore, not now, not ever. The tears once again began to fall, the situation becoming more and more apparent to her. She was the Michigan Avenues latest victim, but why her? What had she done so wrong, that she had been held against her will not once, but now twice. The first time was bad, she was scared. But that time, she was at least out in public, not locked in some dark windowless room. She had had the opportunity to escape, but not now. She would have to wait until her captor came back, before she could attempt any type of escape.

Abby wondered how long she had been missing, how long her friends had been searching for her, if they were at all. Maybe they hadn't even realized she was gone yet. She began thinking about her life, Maggie and Eric of course, but more of her friends, her real family. Susan, Carter, Luka, Sam, and of course Jake. Abby looked down at her green scrubs, and white lab coat, she had finally became a doctor after so many years. All that work and dedication, and it was going to be ripped away so soon after she had graduated. Abby lifted her arm, to wipe away the tears when the she heard the key in the lock, unlocking the door. She quickly laid back down, pretending to be asleep, hoping to fool him.

"Hey Abs," he walked over to her and she felt the bed shift as his weight settled down on it. "I know your awake, I have something for you." he reached down and put a hand on her chest, instantly feeling her body tense, "come on, open your eyes. Don't play tricks on me, its not a good idea," he pulled her to a sitting position, and Abby instinctively opened her eyes. "That's a good girl, I'm glad your listening to me. The others decided they didn't want to, and well you know how they ended up." For the first time, Abby got a good look at her captor, she knew him.

"I know you," she whispered.

"You should, I work at your ER. Here you need to eat something," he handed her a sandwich wrapped in plastic, and an apple. Abby just stared at it, knowing that it was probably poisoned. Yet another one of his tricks to knock her out for a while, it seemed to be his game, he liked to drug her. "Take it, don't worry I haven't poisoned it. I know how to knock you out if I need to Abs." she reached over and slowly took it from him, just to keep him happy, but never keeping her eyes off of his hands. "Good girl, here I thought this might help you," he reached into a bag and pulled out a newspaper. Its headline reading "Michigan Avenue Strangler Strikes Again," beneath it was a picture of a figure staring down at the massive amount of flowers, amongst other things. How did the idea that it might help her, pop into his mind? "They are looking for you, but they wont find you, so don't get your hopes up." her eyes didn't leave the picture, if the story was already in the newspaper, and a shrine had already begun, how long had she been missing?

"How long have I been here?" she asked.

"Two days now, this was yesterdays paper."

"Two days?" Abby said, thinking she had not spoken it out loud. She had been away from her friends, her coworkers, her life for two days, and she could hardly remember anything. Out of the forty eight hours, she had been captive, she could only probably remember a grand total of an hour of them all.

"Yeah, you've been in and out of consciences for both of them. And now, well now since the drugs have completely worn off, and no offense babe, but you are in need of a shower" he suddenly bent down and lifted her from the bed, before gently placing her back on her feet, and leading her out of the room. The house was small, but well kept. The kitchen and living room, were spotless but what caught her eye was the pictures of different women hanging on the wall, unframed, they were Polaroid's, aligned down the wall in columns. Abby recognized all of the women, they had all once been in the same position she was now. She looked to the farthest right, and there they were. He had been watching her for a while, there were pictures of her and Jake, her and Susan, her at her own apartment. And right below the last picture was the headline of the newspaper he had just shown her.

"Don't try anything I'm warning you. I know you are smart enough to listen and do exactly what I say Dr. Lockhart. Trust me, you do not want to pay the consequences. You have five minutes then I'm coming in," he shoved her into the tiny bathroom and shut the door, leaving Abby by herself. The bathroom, like her room, was windowless, the only escape was through the door. She looked for any type of weapon she could use against him, the only thing she found was a bottle of shampoo. It would have to work. She grabbed it right as the knock came at the door. Had it been five minutes already?

"Okay," she called back and took a deep breath. She was only going to have one shot at this, and had to pray that it would work, her life literally depended on it. She had never imagined that she could and would use shampoo as a weapon, but then again she never thought that she would be held captive either. She popped open the top and walked over to the door, before opening it. As soon as she saw him, Abby aimed the top at his eyes and squeezed as hard as she could. The plan worked, the shampoo flew out and hit him in the eyes, temporally blinding him. As his hands flew to his eyes, Abby darted out, barely sneaking past him and running away. She saw it immediately, the portal to her freedom. The door was just in front of her, she could make it, she had to. Abby was to afraid to look behind her, to afraid to see how close he was, she knew he was probably behind her, but didn't want to know exactly where he was. She made it to the door, her hand was on the door knob, she had pulled open the door, she even got one foot outside. It was sunny, so bright that it, just as her kidnapper, was temporarily blinded and stopped her for just a fraction of a second, just enough for Martin to grab her by the scrubs and pull her back inside. He had her around her waist now, dragging her back inside her hell.

"Why you sneaky little bitch," he hissed.

"Let me go!" she screamed at him, trying to kick him, punch him, anything to get him to let her go. But he was to strong, he tightened his grasp around her waist as he hauled her away, but she wasn't giving up just yet. "PUT ME DOWN," she watched as the door grew smaller and smaller and soon they were back in her room. He kicked the door closed behind him, then carried her over to the bed. He threw her down hard, her head hitting the headboard, momentarily stunning her.

"I told you not to try anything Abs, I warned you! Now you are going to have to pay the price."

Her head was groggy and nothing felt the way that it was supposed to, almost as if she was disconnected somehow from the world around her. The force that he had used when he threw her and caused to her head to hit was unbelievable. As she tried to focus her eyes there was nothing there but a thick haze. A chill swept through her, what she was now realizing to be sore body.

She tired to sit up to fight him, when there was his cold rough hand that pushed her back down.

"That's it just relax." The voice said to her, "nothing is going to happen to you if you just relax. That's my girl, my Abby."

She couldn't relax, every muscle in her body tensed up when that voice spoke. Abby fought now to clear the fog that had settled in to try and get a grasp on what was going on around her, she needed to, and fear was her own worst enemy right now. There it was again that rough cold hand, not warm, not caring, it held a completely different feeling to it.

"That's a girl, that's my good girl." Why was he saying that to her? She could feel his hand brushing her cheek before pushing the hair away from her face. He had been outraged at her moments before and now he was acting as if nothing had happened. "I'll take away all the pain and make you feel so much better."

Abby fought the urge to throw up. That's what his touch was doing to her; it was making her stomach turn into knots. She tried to pull away from the hand that was touching her, to get away from the revolting feeling that was overcoming her. She wanted nothing more than to get away from that feeling.

"Don't fight me, my beautiful Abby." he said to her again. Each time he touched her skin it was a little rougher, more intimate than the touch before but held nothing that resembled intimacy in it, there was more of a possession to the touch, to the voice, as if Abby was a prize that he had won, something to be held onto regardless of what Abby wanted.

"You don't want to do this." She was trying to find something that resembled courage from deep inside her, knowing that she didn't want to give up with out some sort of fighting back.

"Yes I do." His voice was filled with ice now as he spoke to her, soft but authoritarian as if she was supposed to willingly obey without question.

"Please don't." She managed to once again spit something out at him in response.

"No talking." It was that moment that he decided to forcefully press his lips down upon hers taking what was in his mind his possession.

Abby bit down, tasting the metallic blood in her mouth, she wasn't about to give him a chance to do anything to her, she wasn't going to have that happen not now.

His touch got rougher more frantic as he started to pull at her clothes, awkwardly groping her, hell bent on taking what he thought was his. She tried to put up a struggle but the more she fought back the harder he fought with her. He brought his hand down across her face slapping her, the taste of blood now once again in her mouth, this time it was her own. "Hold still Dr. Lockhart. You're going to enjoy this." he had pulled off her scrub pants and was now attempting to yank off her top, Abby continued to struggle. Only managing to upset Martin even more. He suddenly reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a pocket knife, immediately bringing it to Abby's throat. "You must not understand what I mean princess, I'm in charge, what I want, I always get!" he empathized his words by pressing the knife harder to her throat, cutting her enough that it caused a tiny drop of blood to escape. The knife seemed to do its job, it had scared her into submission, she was no longer fighting him. "That's a good girl, that's my Abby,"

Abby could feel the weight of the man on top of her as she began to panic, no he couldn't do this to her. He wouldn't do this to her. She was scared, every muscle in her body tightened up and she closed her eyes. "Please don't let this be happening to me." she thought to herself . She couldn't move her hands now he had them pinned above her head, she couldn't breathe she was so scared. "Don't please." She barely managed to whisper out.

"I'm going to enjoy this my little one," he whispered into her ear, as he forced his knee in between her legs, and placed another forcefull kiss on her lips.

She could feel his breath on her neck, the warmth of it turning her stomach. She wished she was unconscious and not aware of what he was about to do. She had treated rape victims before in the ER, but had never imagined that she, herself, would become one. Small tears formed in her eyes as she felt the last of her clothing being stripped away from her and her worst nightmare became reality.

Abby laid there now her body battered and bruised, her pride more wounded than it had ever been. She couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she just wanted to shut everything down, her mind saying silent prayers that he would just leave, to leave her alone, or perhaps he would be merciful and just kill her now. She didn't want to think that this had happened that it wasn't reality. Silent tears fell down her cheeks. Right now that was the only thing that she could do.

Finally after what seemed like a lifetime, he climbed off of her, and Abby felt his body get up off the bed, "you remember that for the next time. You're mine now, now and forever, you will be mine." As he looked down he noticed her lab coat and scrubs he had thrown on the floor. Then he remembered Agent Fisher's dare he had issued to him in the newspaper. "You know Abs, I'm going to be needing these, see ya later babe," he picked up her clothes and left her there, shaking after the brutal assault that her body had just experienced.

Abby waited until he was gone before she sat up and immediately vomited all over the floor. It didn't stop coming until there was absolutely nothing left in her stomach and she was left to dry heave. Finally, her body stopped and she just sat there, not knowing what to do. He had told her she would pay, and pay she had. The tears returned and the shaking became more violent. Only then did Abby realize that she had no clothes on, he had taken those with him, so she reached behind her and grabbed one of the blankets left on her bed and wrapped it around her body. She had never experienced such terror in her life, and yet she knew this wasn't the end.

Martin locked the door to Abby's room, before calmly walking into his living room, grabbing the phone and the newspaper as he did. He flipped through the paper searching for his and Abby's story that was guaranteed to be in there. It didn't take him long to find it, the story was on the front page, but he wasn't reading it. Martin scanned the article looking for the information hotline, he was going to play with the FBI, let them know just who was in charge.

"Hello, yes I have information concerning Abby Lockhart," he spoke to the lady on the other line, keeping his voice even, not wanting to give away any info to her. No, he only wanted to speak with Fisher.

"Do you know the whereabouts of Dr. Lockhart?" the lady from the hotline asked.

"You can say that, but I will only talk to Agent Fisher, if he wants Abby back so bad, he'll have to talk with me first" the tone of his voice must have told her that he wasn't kidding, for seconds later another phone line was ringing.

Agent Fisher was in the lounge, studying Abby's case file. Carter, Susan and Jake were also in the room, not saying anything, not knowing what to say. None of them had had any sleep in the past few days, not since Abby had disappeared. Jake had refused to leave the hospital, afraid that if he left, that the FBI might find her, and he wouldn't be there for Abby when they rescued her, when she would need him most. He truly believed that they would find her, alive and well, he had to, it was the only thing keeping him remotely sane. Suddenly a cell phone began to ring, and everyone reached for theirs, but it turned out that it had been Fisher's that was ringing.

"Fisher," he answered never looking up from his work.

"Hello Agent Fisher," the voice was a male's, deep, and self assured.

"Yes," he was not in the mood to play games, he had a life to save.

"I have some information that you might find relevant in order to find a certain missing doctor,"

"Who is this?" Fisher stood up, looking around the room for one of his team.

"You don't know? But I'm the one you're looking for!" Fisher could actually hear the joy in this guy's voice.

"Have you hurt her?" Fisher finally saw an officer and snapped his fingers at the man trying to get his attention. Once he did, he mouthed the word "Trace" to him.

"Define your definition of hurt" he laughed again.

"Have you killed her? Is she alive?" Fisher watched the reactions of Abby's colleagues when he asked the question.

"Oh no not yet, we're still having a great time together."

"How do I know this isn't a hoax, that you really don't have Abby?"

"Good point, you don't now do you? But the real question is, can you afford, or rather, can Abby afford, for you not to believe me?"

"Let me talk to her then, you say you have her, that you haven't hurt or killed her, I need proof."

"I guess I can do that, maybe it will cheer her up a little bit, give her some false hope, oh by the way Agent Fisher, I wouldn't waste my time by tracing this phone call, I'll give you that the number is from Abby's cell phone." Fisher pulled the phone away from his ear and mentally cursed this man, he wasn't just some dumb criminal, he could tell by talking with him that he was educated. And when you combine criminals and a high level of education they are usually not a very good mix. He pressed the phone back to his ear, and heard the sound of what he thought was a door opening.

"Get up Abby!" he heard the man demand, "here, just say hello, and don't try anything."

"Hello?" Abby's voice was shaky, but Fisher didn't get any more then that, for the phone was yanked away from her, and the male voice once again came on the phone.

" She's alive, now you talk to me,"

"I don't know that," it was true, Fisher didn't know if he had actually spoken with Abby, it very well could have been a recording. He had recognized the voice, he remembered it from when Dr. Lockhart had described his daughters injuries to him, and how she had told him that Anna would survive, that she would fully recover and be like any other normal eight year old once they released her from the hospital. He remembered how kind she was to Anna, how much Anna liked Abby. Anna trusted Abby, and if Fisher's daughter liked a stranger, especially one that had stuck needles in her tiny body, that there must have been something special about this certain doctor. Abby had saved Anna, now it was time for Fisher to save Abby.

"What the hell? You just spoke to her!" the man screamed into the phone, Fisher had to be careful. He couldn't make this man to mad, for if he did he might take his rage out on Abby.

"No, I got one word!" Fisher countered. "For all I know, that was just a recording!" he looked around the room and at the stunned faces of the doctors, they apparently knew that he was actually talking to Abby's kidnapper, and possibly Abby herself. He took a deep breath before continuing "Let me just talk to her, make sure she's okay. What harm is it going to do?"

Martin thought about this, why not let her talk with the FBI, they wouldn't find her. They didn't even know who he was, and Abby couldn't tell them anything that could lead to her rescue. She didn't know his name, and she didn't know where she was, he was safe.

"Alright Agent Fisher, we can try this again!" he walked again over to Abby, who was sitting with the blanket wrapped tightly around her, not letting him see any exposed skin that he couldn't normally see. The blanket, Abby had discovered, was sort of a gift. He had taken her clothes, left her with nothing except the blanket. "Listen, you tell him anything about me and I swear," he pulled a gun from his jean pocket and pressed her to her head. "Here," he once again handed her the phone.

"Hello," she said again, trying to hide the fear that was obvious in her voice.

"Abby?"

"Yes?"

"Okay, good. I just want you to answer with yes or no, alright? I'm Agent Fisher with the FBI. We're going to find you I promise, just don't give up on us okay." he paused, still not able to believe that he was talking to Abby, that she was alive. "You still with me?" he asked when he didn't receive a response.

"Yes."

"Abby, do you know who the man is? Do you recognize him?"

Abby didn't know how to answer the FBI agent's question. She knew what the answer was, she knew what she wanted to say. Tell Agent Fisher that her kidnapper was a janitor at County, but he was right there with a gun to her head. But this could be her only chance, if she could at least let him know that she was able to recognize her abductor maybe the FBI would find her. She had to take the chance, if he wanted to kill her, he would, but at least she would give the authorities some sort of clue, maybe prevent another person from living the hell she currently was. Abby made her decision before taking a deep breath knowing full well that it might be her last, and answered Fisher's question.

"Yes," Abby's answer was a huge break in the case for Agent Fisher, the only break they had! She knew her kidnapper. The excitement, however, was short lived, for as soon as Abby spoke those words Fisher heard the male voice again, this time he wasn't talking to the agent but screaming at Abby.

"YOU BITCH…." Fisher listened, how could he have not thought that whoever had Abby would be listening to the conversation. Avoiding all eye contact with everyone, and took a deep breath, afraid of what he was about to hear. "I WARNED YOU ABBY, but you just like to push buttons don't you? HAVE YOU NOT LEARNED YOUR LESSON?" The man seemed to have totally forgotten that the FBI was still on the phone, listening to everything he said, hoping he would say something that would lead the FBI to him and Abby. The longer the phone call lasted, the more information the FBI would be able to obtain.

"No, please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Fisher felt his heart break as he heard Abby plead for her life, a life he was assigned to save. He was absolutely powerless. "No!" he heard her scream one more time, and then there was silence.

"That'll teach you!" he heard the male voice say. Fisher waited for any kind of sound, but all he heard was shuffling and then a curse, before the call was ended. The man, whoever it was, must have remembered that he had not hung up the phone. Fisher held the phone to his ear for a minute longer, knowing that Abby's life had probably just ended. Now he had to face her coworkers, who had witnessed the entire phone call, they would want to know what happened. How would he tell him them, that he thought that he had just listened to Abby's murder?

"Agent Fisher?" Susan Lewis' voice broke the silence. She spoke for her staff, they all knew that something had happened while Fisher was on the phone with their friend, but what, they had no idea. "Was that Abby?" she asked once Fisher turned to face them.

"Yes, it was," how was he going to do this? He knew what their next question would be.

"Is she okay?" It was Jake who asked, the hope and fear etched into his expression.

"I'm… I'm not sure. I was able to speak with Abby.." he paused.

"But what," they could all sense that something had happened, and whatever it was, had not been good.

"Abby was able to tell me that she recognized her kidnapper, he got pretty angry after that," he didn't need to finish the sentence, the reaction of Abby's coworkers faces told him that.

"Did he kill her?" It was the last thing anyone expected Jake to say, even though everyone was thinking the same thing. And when Fisher didn't look up, they were afraid that Jake was right, that Abby was dead.

"I didn't like the way the phone call ended, that's all I can tell you right now," and with that Fisher grabbed his stuff and walked out of the lounge, he couldn't be in the lounge any longer. He couldn't be in the ER anymore, he needed to get out, get some fresh air.

"Damn it!" he cursed as soon as he was outside, he needed to get away from the hospital right then, and the closet thing he could get to, was a tiny restaurant across the street. He slowly walked to it, and pushed open the door. It was not in the least bit crowded, and he slid into the nearest, empty seat.

"Can I get you anything Agent Fisher?" the waitress appeared out of nowhere.

"How do you.." he began to ask but quickly answered his own question, of course she would know who he was. It seemed as if every man, women and child living in Chicago now knew he was.

"Dr. Lockhart came here a lot, she was actually my first customer. With us being this close to County, we've met quite a few of their docs. When Dr. Lockhart first disappeared, naturally our staff became pretty upset with the case. We've been following it since she.." the waitress paused, regaining her composure. "I've seen you on TV a few times." she explained.

He looked up at her a sad smile crossing his face nodding to what she had said. It seemed as if the missing doctor had more friends than he originally anticipated and no matter where he went something would pull his attention to the case, there was going to be no rest for him until he was able to bring the greatly missed doctor home, alive and well.


	10. Seven Days

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters..make no money..yadda yadda yadda.

It had been a week. A full seven days since Abby had been taken against her will, from the very hospital she worked at. And the FBI was no closer to finding her, then when she had first disappeared. Hope, unfortunately, was fading fast. Especially when the staff knew exactly whose hands Abby was in. In his hands, the word hope, most likely didn't exist in his vocabulary.

The thing that was unnerving Fisher the most was not that he hadn't heard from the kidnapper since that day but the scream that had come across the line, he would never be able to get that sound from his ears, the chilling sound of what he knew was the doctor's last cries. He was looking at her file, Abby's picture that Susan had given him the week before. Abby's case would be featured on America's Most Wanted tonight, and he would once again be interviewed on national television. Fisher didn't see the point, the entire nation knew about Abby Lockhart, it wasn't as if someone would suddenly realize that they knew where she was once they watched Americas Most Wanted.

"Excuse me Agent Fisher," he turned from his make shift post in the lounge, to see Agent Donald Carson talking to him, holding a box. Carson was relatively new to the FBI, and unfortunately this case was his first actual field experience, to bad it would probably end with yet another murder victim. Maybe it would be a lesson for Carson's future cases, don't hold onto hope, it usually didn't pan out the way anyone wanted it to. Fisher had learned that hard lesson himself years before. When he himself was just a promising young agent, he had been with the FBI for only five years, when he got "that case" the case that changes an agents perspective on everything. Ten years ago, a man had attempted to rob a bank, but it turned into a hostage situation. The FBI was called in and Fisher's partner, Randal Sims, was the agent in charge. A gun battle had erupted on day two of the crisis, and Sims had dove in front of Fisher, taking the bullet that was meant to end Fisher's life, not Sims. That day, Fisher lost all hope in humanity, and had yet to regain it.

"This box just arrived, its addressed to you and marked urgent. Were you expecting something sir?" Carson asked as he handed the box over.

Fisher ignored the agent and set the box on the table and began cutting into it. Once open, he looked inside, and pulled out a piece of white copy paper, on it, hand written was the words: "Here's your damn proof Fisher," before he dug even further into the box, he reached behind him and pulled on a pair of gloves. Carson, seeing this, grabbed a pair of gloves himself, before picking up the paper and examining it himself.

"Carson," Fisher began, "I need you to get Dr. Lewis and Jake in here now, but keep it quite," he told the agent once he realized what he had just pulled out of the box. He was still staring at the items when his cell phone rang.

"Fisher," he answered casually.

"Did you get my present?" the voice on the other line, a voice Fisher could easily identify, asked.

"Where is she?"

"Abby?"

"Yes, Abby!" Fisher was trying his best to stay calm and level headed.

"Was that a hint of anger I just sensed Agent Fisher?" the man laughed into the phone.

"Just answer my question," he turned around just in time to see Susan and Jake rush through the door, and them seeing him on the phone.

"Not until you answer mine,"

"What?"

"Did you or did you not get my present?" Fisher looked back at the box, Susan and Jake following his gaze, and the upset look on their faces when they saw what the box had once held.

"I got it. Now answer mine,"

"She's here, asleep. Been asleep for quite awhile now, probably a good thirteen hours, must be the drugs. Hope she's still alive in there, I don't want to lose her just yet."

"How do I even know she is still alive?" it was back to playing games with this guy, Fisher hated playing games.

"Oh I see what you're getting at Fisher, no need to beg, I'll put her on the phone, but on one condition."

"What's that?" Fisher didn't like where this was going.

"She doesn't talk to you, only her doctor boy," Fisher turned to face Jake, what else could he do?

"I can arrange for that to happen, but now I have one question,"

"Sure, can't guarantee I'll answer though." Fisher heard the sound of keys unlocking a door.

"What can I do to assure Dr. Lockhart's safe return?"

"You know I've never considered a ransom, I'll have to think about that one, now put doctor boy on the phone,"

Fisher looked up and Jake and spoke softly, "Jake, would you like to speak with Abby?" everyone in the room froze, nobody could actually believe that Abby might actually still be alive, especially Fisher and the other agent. But this was his chance to find out if they FBI still had time to find Abby.

In a flash Jake had grabbed Fisher's cell phone.

"Abby? Are you there?" he could make out some commotion in the background, but couldn't understand what was being said.

"Jake, is that you?" she sounded like she had just woken up.

Jake let out a sigh hearing her voice on the other end of the line, but he needed to keep his emotions in check, "are you okay? Has he hurt you?" The questions that had been plaguing him since she'd been missing, but at the same time, he wasn't sure that he really wanted to know.

"Jake," he had tears rolling down his face now; she didn't sound like the normal, confident, stubborn Abby he was used to. Now he could hear the fear in her voice.

"Abby listen to me, we are going to find you okay?" there was silence. "Abby?"

"Jake, you promised..." Abby's voice trailed off for a moment, "why did you promise?" and then the phone went dead.

"Oh God," Jake knew exactly what Abby was referring to. He dropped the phone on the floor and then ran out the door, nearly running over Carter and Pratt as he did. He ran straight into the men's restroom and into the first empty stall, sticking his head into the toilet just in time as he vomited up the contents of the last meal in his stomach. He didn't realize that he had company until the voice spoke.

"Jake, what happened?" it was Carter. "Its okay, calm down, what happened?"

"Abby blames me," it was a very simple statement that left Carter floored.

"What? How do you know that?"

"He let me talk to her. She asked me why I promised her,"

"Promised her what?" Carter was lost, what was Jake talking about?

"That I would protect her, that I wouldn't let anything happen to her. And now look were she is!" he looked over at the attending, "She was so scared, I heard it in her voice. It wasn't Abby; I didn't want to believe that it was her. That's how bad she sounded. I didn't want it to be her, but it was. Who knows what the bastard has done to her." Jake stood up, "Damn it!" he punched the mirror instantly shattering it, then dropping back down to his knees, the stress, and exhaustion from the past week finally catching up with him.

Susan walked in, worried as she saw Carter staring down at Jake, wondering what to do or say to help comfort the young man. Carter, himself, was having a hard time with Abby's abduction. Kerry had even gone as far as to making every member of the ER staff that had worked closely with Abby, to go to counseling, at least once. Carter had been asked by the therapist to return, as had Susan, Sam, Jake and Luka. Apparently Dr. Winters believed that those four needed multiple sessions to help deal with the stress.

"Jake" the news Susan was about to deliver would just make the situation harder. "Agent Fisher needs you to identity some clothes, he thinks they are Abby's" hell they were Abby's the green scrubs, and the white lab coat that had her name embroider on it, but Fisher had to hear the words "yes, those are Abby's" before he could do anything else. Jake nodded, trying to regain his composure, but Carter spoke first.

"Susan, not now, he needs stitches," Carter pointed to Jake's hand which was now bloodied with glass everywhere. "Come on Jake," with that, Carter helped Jake stand up and led him out of the bathroom, into the busy ER hallway and towards the suture room.


	11. Suprise

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters..make no money..yadda yadda yadda.

Abby still could not believe that he had actually let her speak to Jake. It had been days ago, but she was still in shock. Hearing Jake's voice eased her anxiety a tiny bit, but that was it. When he had walked into the room, talking on the phone, it had not surprised her. But when he had actually handed her the phone, she honestly did not know what to do.

"I'm not going to do anything, just talk to him," she reached for the phone slowly never taking her eyes off of Martin. She didn't believe him, saying that he was not going to attempt anything. She had learned that, that certain phrase was rarely true. But when she heard Jake's voice, the only thing that came to her mind was you promised, and that's what she had said. That was all she could say, for the phone was ripped away from her and once again her captor was at her side.

"I told you I would not hurt you didn't I Abby?" he sat down next to her, on the old bed. He reached for her hand and grabbed it, pulling her closer to him, she no longer flinched, she was unfortunately used to his touch. "I was thinking Abby," he tilted her chin, so that she was looking at him in the eyes. "You've been such a good girl lately, I can trust you know. I'm going to let you leave this room for an hour, watch television, maybe a movie." he saw the mask of confusion play across her face. "Would you like that Abby?"

"Yes," she knew better then not to answer him, after being with him for over as long as she had, Abby had learned what really set him off. And when she would not verbally address him, was when she would be punished. Abby had the bruises on her body to prove it.

"Oh and I have something else for you, I forgot it in the other room, let me go grab it. I will be right back," he stood up and left Abby bewildered. Why was he suddenly being like this? The only thing that could come to her mind, was the idea that this would be her last day. She knew the he would kill his victims after two weeks of captivity, what she didn't know what how long she had been with him, it literately felt like a lifetime.

The door reopened and he walked in, carrying a plastic grocery sack. "Here," he handed her the bag, a smile spreading across his face. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get these. It would have been to suspicious if someone saw me sneaking them out. Here, open it,"

Abby reached into the bag, and pulled out a pair of scrubs. Nothing special to a person who had their freedom, but to Abby, it was the best thing she could have asked for right then, well except her freedom. She looked up at him, with tears in her eyes, "thank you," she whispered.

"Your welcome. You can also have a shower if you like, I'll cook us some lunch. But I'm telling you not to try that nice little stunt you did last time, I'm sure by now you've learned your lesson. Haven't you?"

"Yes," it was true, he had taught her how to behave, and she knew what was right and wrong. But it didn't mean that she wasn't going to try and get out of this hell hole, one way or another.

"Good girl, come on," he helped her up and led her out of the room, down the hall and into a different bathroom from the one before. "There you go, here is your clothes, you have twenty minutes." he smiled at her before turning and walking away, giving Abby some much unanticipated privacy.

She waited, collecting her thoughts, before turning on the shower. She climbed in, and closed the curtain. As the hot water washed over her body, Abby realized that the only thing in the shower, was a bar of soap, no shampoo, no razors, just plain old body soap. It would work, anything to clean herself with, to get his touch off of her. She had used the entire bar, when the knock came on the door.

"Abby, its been twenty minutes, come on out now," she involuntarily shivered when she heard his voice. Sighing, she turned off the water, and stepped out, wrapping the orange towel around her. "ABBY!" he shouted.

"I'm sorry, I'm out, I just need to get dressed." she called back.

"Alright hurry up, lunch is done, I don't want it to get cold." she nodded her head, realizing it was completely unnecessary, he couldn't see her through that door, but then again, knowing him, he probably had drilled a peep hole somewhere and was watching her constantly. Abby grabbed the green scrubs, vowing that if she ever got out of here alive, she would never wear the color green again. It brought her way to much bad luck. Both of the times she had been abducted, she had been dressed in green scrubs, and the ones he had brought her, were of course green, But she was thankful for them, it was amazing how people would tend to forget about the simple things in life..like clothes, until they had been without them for a while. Abby had been left without clothes for days upon days, until she was once again able to feel the wonderful fabric of the soft cotton that were hospital scrubs. She was thankful for any scrap of clothing that he was willing to give her and scrubs she would be more than happy right now to cover herself. As she walked to the door, yet another thought ran through her mind. He was winning, Abby was completely submissive to him, a shell of what she was just a little over a week ago.

"There you go," he guided her out of the bathroom and into the living room. She kept her gaze down, but she could tell that it was dark outside, didn't he just tell her it was time for lunch? Then she heard a loud clash of thunder, and knew it probably wasn't night, but just a storm causing the house to be this dark. "Here, sit down, what would you like to watch?" he gently pushed her down into the couch, before draping a blanket over her.

"I don't know," she replied.

"How about the news, tell ya what, I'll give you the remote, you can pick and chose." he handed her the remote and headed into the kitchen. For reasons, Abby could not think of, he was trusting her not to run. Maybe because he knew that he had broken her spirit to fight, or so he thought. She turned on the television and began flipping through the channels, stopping at CNN.

"There is still no solid leads in Abby Lockhart's abduction. The doctor was kidnapped from County General Hospital eleven days ago, and has not been seen since." Abby watched in awe as the reporter told more and more about her case. And for the first time she saw what Agent Fisher looked like, but there was something familiar about him. Yet she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, we were on America's Most Wanted a couple of days ago. Here," he grabbed the remote from her, "I recorded it," he pressed a few more buttons and then the previously aired episode came upon the screen. As he walked away, something on the table next to the old brown couch, caught her gaze. It was a prescription bottle of some sort. Quickly, she reached across and grabbed it, sticking it in her scrub pocket. She had to get away from this mad man, Abby couldn't deal with him any longer. She didn't care now, CNN had said that they had no clue as to where she was, and John Walsh had basically conveyed the same message. She was not going to be found, and she was as hell was not going to let this psychopath win. If he wanted her dead, so be it, but he would not be the one to kill her. She could take care of that herself. Abby just didn't want to live with him any longer, Abby simply did not want to live.

"Here, drink this," he handed her a glass of orange juice, before once again heading back to the kitchen. Without so much as a second thought, Abby opened the pill bottle and grabbed a hand full shoving them in her mouth, before chasing it down with some of the juice. She had no idea how much she had just swallowed or even what it was, but hopefully it would do the trick. She never would have thought about committing suicide, but know she understood why her mother do it, it was a way of escape. At that point Abby forgave Maggie.

"Here's your lunch.. I" he looked down and saw the now half empty pill bottle. "YOU DIDN'T?" he screamed, knowing full well what she had just done. "Damn it Abby!" he lifted her off the couch and grabbed the cup of juice before he rushed into the bathroom. He shut the door behind him and put her down on the floor, before he began digging through the medicine cabinet, all the while mumbling to himself. He finally found what he was looking for, and got down next to her.

"Open your mouth," he demanded holding the bottle up to her. Knowing that it didn't matter if she disobeyed him anymore, she shook her head.

"Go to hell you bastard!" she told him, to weak to yell.

He roughly reached over and pinched her jaw, trying to force her mouth open, but nothing worked, she was being the same old stubborn Abby, the one he had fallen in love with.

"You bitch" he screamed, "do you not realize if you do not drink this you will die!" he was met with a smile, a smile that said yes, I knew exactly what I was doing. She felt that she had outsmarted him, but he would have the final word in this. "You want to die, there's not a thing I can do to hurt you, but what about your lover boy?" he knew he had gotten through to her, when she made eye contact with him. "That's right Abby, either you drink the medicine here, or I go and put a bullet through his heart. So what's your choice?" he once again brought the Ipecac to her lips, knowing what Abby would chose. She cared to much about Jake, she would take the medicine. He knew it.

Knowing she didn't have a choice Abby reached for the bottle, "No, no Abby, I get to do it," he told her as he pressed her hands back down. He once again brought the bottle to her lips, and Abby hesitantly opened her mouth. He suddenly moved, and jumped behind her, pulling her hair so that he could easily pour the liquid down her throat. "Good girl, just drink it, that's right," he told her as he let her hair go, once he was sure that she had indeed swallowed it. He smiled, watching her gag, he had complete control over her now, her failure at an attempted suicide only proved it more to him. Abby could never escape his wrath, and now he knew that she knew it as well. It had taken her long enough, eleven days was a long time.

"See Abby," he began as he lifted her next to the toilet, and grabbed her by the back of the neck, forcing her head down. "you don't know, that I hold a degree in biochemistry from Harvard, I know how the body works, how it will react to certain toxins. And I also have a lot of those certain toxins on hand. For example, after this lovely medicine does its job, you, my dear, will be receiving a wonderfully large dose of activated charcoal, doesn't that just sound great?" he was answered with the sound of Abby beginning to vomit, "that's it, its all right, spit it all out,"

It was horrible enough experience when somebody had to vomit, but doing it because you had tried to kill yourself, were caught, and now drugged by your captor to keep you alive, just made the sensation ten times worse. The Ipecac had worked extremely fast, faster then she would have thought. Her stomach lurched and everything came back. She knew this wasn't the end of it either, he had told her she would be getting some charcoal, and Abby didn't doubt him. After close to five minutes of continues vomiting, she unwillingly fell back into his arms. No longer able to hold herself up any longer.

"That was not a good plan Dr. Lockhart," he said as he smoothed the hair away from her sweaty forehead, and then kissed the top of her head. "Your hair smells good Abby, I'm glad you got the chance to wash it. It was the last time you'll be doing anything by yourself for a while, you know that." he once again pulled her so that she was standing, but soon knew that she wouldn't be able to do that by herself, so he sat her down and pushed so that her back was up against the wall. Martin then went back into the medicine cabinet, not as rushed this time, and pulled out a bottle. Abby could hardly make out the name, but knew what it was. She watched as he poured some of it into a cup then filled it with water. He came back over to her, and brought it to her lips, just like he had done with the Ipecac.

"Open up," she did as she was told. He brought the cup up to her lips, watched her drink it and waited for her to once again to swallow the medicine. "Alright, now we wait. Don't worry baby, after your done, you can sleep for as long as you want," surly he wouldn't kill her now, not after he had just saved her life, if she could call it that. She knew that she would feel like hell the next few days, like she didn't already, "guess that's what I get for trying to kill myself," Abby thought.

As she waited for the Charcoal to take effect, Abby thought back to Jake. How her captor had actually threatened his life. She could never imagine the guilt if she had not taken the Ipecac, and somehow survived, and then rescued. Only to find out Jake had been gunned down earlier, all because of her stubbornness.

The vomiting suddenly returned, but didn't last as long this time. But it did leave her incredibly weak, the result of an overdose on God knew what, Ipecac and charcoal and the puking it all up. And before she knew it, he had lifted her off the ground and was carrying her out of the bathroom. Abby was able to stay conscious just long enough to see them enter the hallway, then everything went black.


	12. Alone

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters..make no money..yadda yadda yadda.

It had now passed the two week mark, if Abby had been in the hands of the strangler, it was to late for her now. Her body would turn up soon. Fisher knew that for a fact.

Fisher was briefing his task force outside the ER, when Carson came towards him, another box in his hand. Before opening it, Fisher put on a pair of gloves and then tore into it.

"What is it?" Carson asked.

"It's a video tape," he flipped over the cassette, looking for any kind of clue as to what it might be. "Carson, find Jennings, and meet me in the lounge, everyone else you know what to do," he dismissed his team and headed towards the entrance. In less then five minutes all three agents had assembled in the lounge, and the tape was placed inside the aging VCR. Everyone anxiously awaiting its contents. Fisher couldn't help but try and shake the uneasy feeling he was getting, the strangler had never sent stuff to the FBI, let alone, talk with them. Maybe this guy was just a copy cat? It was certainty a possibility. It had happened numerous times before. And the more he thought about it, the more Fisher believed that he was dealing with a copy cat. After all, they had no hard evidence that Abby was the victim of the strangler, the only thing that kept Fisher believing that she might be with him, was that no other disappearances of medical personal had been reported since Abby's.

"Alright, you," Fisher pointed to an agent whose name he couldn't remember. "Stand outside, do not let anyone in, if its urgent, come and get me," he directed. He watched as the agent left, and waited until the door was shut before redirecting his attention to the television. "Okay, lets see what's on this thing," he said to nobody in particular. Three pairs of eyes, were glued to the screen as it came to life.

The video showed a rather large room, with two windows, each covered with dark curtains. In the middle of the room was a bed, packed with blankets and pillows. But it wasn't the room, the curtains or the bed that had captured the agents attention, but what..or rather who, was lying in the bed.

"She's alive," the camera had zoomed in on who the FBI now recognized as Abby Lockhart.

"At least she was when he filmed this," Fisher added, never taking his eyes from the screen.

"She's been drugged," Jennings added, once the camera focused more on Abby's face. She was sleeping, at least that's what they hoped. She was incredibly pale, and sweating profusely. As trained FBI agents, they didn't need any doctor, to tell them when somebody had been drugged. The video just focused on her for close to five minutes, before turning black, leaving the agents wondering if there was a chance that Dr. Lockhart might still be alive. Statistically, it was highly unlikely, and if she was really with the Michigan Avenue Strangler, it was next to impossible.

In all the other victims, the medical examiner had determined that the women had only been dead a few hours when the body had been discovered. He had killed them the same day, knowing that the body would be found relatively soon. They had all been dumped in a public setting, in full view, it wasn't as if he had made any sort of attempt to hide the corpse. Abby's body would be no different, it was just a question of who would discover it and when.

Susan needed privacy, that was all there was to it. Away from Jake, away from Carter and especially away from Agent Fisher and his team of FBI failures. At least that's what Susan thought of them as right then, failures. Once they found her best friend, she might reconsider them, but not right then, not fifteen days after Abby's abduction. She hastily wiped a tear that had fallen onto the newspaper she was reading, the article, of course concerned her best friend. "Oh God, Abby where are you?" she whispered, talking to herself, and placing her head in her hands. She couldn't believe how much she missed Abby, how much the ER missed her.

"You cant give up on her Susan, not yet," Sam's voice startled her, Susan had failed to notice her enter the room.

"Hey Sam," she said, wiping the tears away.

"Are you alright Dr. Lewis?" the nurse asked as she walked over to her boss.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"We are all feeling the same thing, you know that right? Nobody can keep Abby off their minds, its actually starting to show in our work. Mistakes have been made, no fatal ones yet, thank God." Sam informed her, trying to secretly convey the message that Susan really needed to step up right then and get her ER back on track. It was true, ever since Abby had disappeared, nobody seemed to be able to concentrate on their work.

"They'll find her Susan,"

Susan nodded, "yeah, lying down in a ditch somewhere," it wasn't meant to sound negative, but it was exactly how Susan felt right then. She knew, along with everyone else, that the chances of ever seeing Abby alive again, were slim to none.

"Susan.." Sam started

"Do you honestly think that there is a chance that she might still be alive Sam," Susan stood up now, "Honestly Sam?" and with that Susan threw her plastic cup in the trash and headed back to work.

Abby looked around, the room was starting to brighten and she knew yet another day was starting, one more day that no one had found her yet and her will power to live was starting to slowly slip away. After her stunt the day before, he had taken to sort of nursing her back to health. The charcoal and Ipecac induced vomiting had left her with no energy. All she could remember was him taking into the hallway and that was it. When she woke up, she thought she had been successful in her attempt. She was no longer in the closet of a room he had held her for so long, but a rather large one, in a comfortable bed, with multiple blankets piled on top of her. But the thing that most excited her, was not the bed, or the blankets, but the fact that there was a tad bit of sunshine filtering into the room. Sun, something she had not seen in God knew when. For the first time in a long time, Abby smiled. She wanted to get up and go outside, just to get some fresh air, but as soon as she tried to move, Abby quickly realized that she had not died, people were not tied to a bed in heaven, or wherever people went after they passed. She turned her head to the left and saw that her wrist was tied to the bed by a rope, she gently pulled on it, and instantly felt the roughness of it cutting into her delicate skin, it was the same with her right wrist and both of her ankles. Her mind flashed back, when she barely heard him say something about she would never be able to do anything by herself again, he wasn't kidding.

"Hello Abby," he had walked in suddenly, startling her. "How are you feeling today?" he sat down on the bed next to her before placing his hand on the side of her face. "You look like you are feeling better. How about something to drink? I don't want you to get dehydrated, after all that vomiting you did."

"I'm not thirsty," her voice was a whisper but held a sense of defiance in it.

"Abby, come on now, you need to start listening to me again, I don't want to kill you, please, you have to know that by now." he was talking to her as if she was a disobedient child.

"Why do you do this?" she moved her left arm to show what she meant.

"Tie you down?" he asked, sounding concerned, he brushed back her brown hair softly as she nodded. "I had to Abby, you are defiantly a smart one, smart and stubborn, that's why I fell in love with you. You don't give up!" he leaned down a pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I admire you for that. Nobody else has ever tried to kill themselves while they were with me, at first I was furious, but now I realize that you were just being my Abby. I brought you in here, my bedroom, you were out like a light after you got down vomiting. I don't have a lock on this door, and I cant be here all the time, I didn't want you to be in your room, its to cold, if you got sick, well you know what could happen. So I had to tie you, I'm sorry," he turned around and grabbed a knife, instantly Abby felt her heart rate increase, this was it, she was dead.

"No, please," she cried, squeezing her eyes shut, not wanting to see the knife plunging into her body.

"Shh, don't worry baby doll, its not time yet." suddenly she felt her arms fall to her side, and the blanket being thrown off. She opened her eyes just in time to see him cut the ropes from her ankles. "Is that better?" he asked, and began rubbing her legs, attempting to get the circulation going again. He watched as her gaze drifted away from his, and back down to the blankets, he knew that look, she was planning something, he had to get ahead of her. "Abby," he reached over and tilted her chin up, " you know I cant just forgive and forget after your little stunt. Not after what you pulled," he suddenly threw the remaining blankets aside, grabbed her arm, squeezing it hard enough that Abby swore he had broken it. But she was to afraid to think about the pain radiating up and down her arm, he was dragging her out of the room now. At first, she fought against him, pulling away, but it was hopeless, he had an iron tight grip on her, she was only going where he wanted her to go.

When he opened the door, Abby didn't immediately recognize the room, but once he dragged her further inside, she knew exactly where she was. How could she not recognize it, it was where he held her since the beginning. It was her room, her cell, yet it was missing a few important items. No longer did it contain a bed, or any kind of furniture for that matter. It was just a small room, the one thing that she noticed was different however, was that it was absolutely freezing in the room. Abby did not like where this was going. He turned and shut the door, just staring at her.

He couldn't believe that she had tried to kill herself, the more he thought about it the more it angered him, he literately felt his blood boiling. He would put this doctor in her place once and for all.

Abby just stared back at him, not knowing what else to do, when he sprang at her.

"You bitch." His hand shot around her throat as he picked her up with very little effort, she could feel the oxygen being cut off from her lungs, "don't you ever try that again or it will be the last thing that you will ever do. This is the last time I am warning you Abby, I swear to God, do not make me angry anymore." and then he threw her to the ground, before standing over her, one foot on each side of her body, she was trapped. He then pulled out the knife from his pocket and kneeled down, so that he was on top of her. He grabbed her hair and pulled her head up, "I'm going to make your life a living hell," Abby just remained silent, not daring to say anything. "Abby…Abby," he laughed. "You just don't understand do you baby? You've been with me now for nineteen days, and your still as stubborn as ever! I've got to admire that! Yet at the same time, I'm going to have to break that little habit of yours," he let her head go and it slammed against the hard floor. "This is the only way I can think to do it Abby, you've given me no choice," she closed her eyes as she saw, for the second time that day, the knife heading straight for her body. "No no princess, keep them open for Martin, I don't want you to miss a thing," when she didn't, he brought the knife to her throat, and pushed, knowing that Abby would know exactly what he was waiting for. He had to apply a fair amount of pressure, but eventually she did reopen her eyes. "Smart move doctor, you never know, that might have just saved your life." he returned the knife to her chest, "just stay still, I promise it wont hurt, it wont,"

Abby's mind raced back several years ago to when Carter and Lucy had been stabbed, she know knew what they went through. She was about to end up like Lucy, and she knew it. She felt more pressure applied to her chest, and made direct eye contact with Martin.

"Just relax, it will turn out alright," the knife then cut through her scrub top, cutting away the much treasured item, then it cut through her pants, coming to close to her skin for comfort, and once again she was left with no clothing, but she was alive. He had decided not to kill her, at least not yet. Once again Abby had escaped death. "Good bye Abby," and with that he stood up, gathered the ruminates of her clothes and left the room. Leaving Abby, without clothes, without a bed, and without the blanket.


	13. Water

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters..make no money..yadda yadda yadda.

The first day had passed at a decent clip, all things considered. She was tired, and she was cold. She was humiliated. She was ravenous. And the thirst. And the silence, oppressive silence. Only her voice to keep her company. At first she had sung a bit, and recited poems, old poems she had memorized in grade school. The periodic chart of the elements. The bones of the human body. Anything that passed through her mind. The noise kept her calm a bit. She paced, she did anything she could to distract herself from the current situation. Anything to keep her thoughts off of those two words he had said, "Goodbye Abby."

On the second day, she was quiet. She had been still just long enough, unoccupied just long enough that the meaning of his words hit her full force, like the hardest of his blows. He wasn't coming back. Leaving her here to die, to be broken, shriveled, and wasted. She didn't feel hungry any more. In medical school, they had gone over this, how sometimes after a day or two, the body became numb to hunger. So the ache in the pit of her gut was gone. But the dryness in her throat and her eyes, the stiffness, the headaches, cramping and muscle spasms, all of that, she could still feel. And she was still alone in a world of silent misery.

It was the third day when she forgot that it was the third day. How long had it been since she last saw Martin? Since he last touched her? She wanted someone, to hear a voice, even his. Anything other than the silence and her thoughts. She could not close her eyes and dream the people up, for there was a deep seeded, gnawing fear that if she did, she would never open them again to see or hear real people. The room was frigid. The fact that she was starving added to it. Yet her throat burned for want of water. The man was smart. He was winning.

He knew how to break her, and he had done it. Nothing for three days. Not clothes, not warmth, not food or drink. Not even the sound or sight of other humans. Nothing. Dark, plain walls and a hard floor. She could not, would not disobey him if he gave her a second chance. She needed human contact far too much to throw away this one. She needed not to be like this. Either dead or out of here, but not like this. Anything other than remaining like this, she couldn't escape. There was no other way.

Had other women gone through this? Martin had admitted it, that he was the Michigan Avenue Strangler, but he had also told her that the others had lasted fourteen days. Only fourteen. Why was she still here? Still alive? Still suffering? Would he kill her? If he was to kill her, could he simply do it now? Would he, please? Just free her from this hell.

She took a breath, trying to calm herself, chase away a bit of the panic. She needed a way out. But she couldn't think. Not clearly. Not beyond the most basic animalistic thoughts. Food. Water. Warmth. So, with nothing else to do, she lay down to rest. She slept in an instant.

Martin watched as she slowly succumbed to sleep, he knew that he had broken her, he had finally won. He let her sleep for a while, before entering her room, it would be the last time she was in this room, he had another surprise for her.

"Abby, baby doll," he bent down next to her, and placed a hand on the side of her face, brushing away some of the hair that had fallen across her face. "Its over now, you need to wake up for me," the other hand went to her back and he began rubbing circles on it. He knew it would take a while for her to come around, and to be honest he was starting to get a little worried. He jumped up and ran to the bathroom, right down the hall, quickly wet a washcloth, filled a glass of water, and raced back to her room.

He brought the rag to her lips, and gently ran it back and forth, eventually he got a reaction.

"There you go," he set the rag aside, onto the floor, then lifted her into his arms. He carried her down the hall into a new room, and set her down on the bed. Then he ran back to the other room and once again grabbed the rag and cup of water.

It took twenty minutes before he was able to coax her into taking a sip from the cup, but she finally did, before she would fall back into the bed.

"Hey there, welcome back," he whispered once he noticed Abby finally beginning to open her eyes. "You gave me a scare, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to bring you back, but I did, and you're here now." he bent down and kissed her softly on the lips, noting that they were still dry. Maybe, later if she was feeling better, they could take a trip down to the drug store and get some chap stick. The media storm had died done a little bit, he could risk taking her out in public. She would behave now, he knew it. He watched as she stared at him for a bit, but then looked around the room. "Abby," he began, "have you learned your lesson?"

Abby watched as Martin leaned down to next to her, asking if she had learned her lesson. Of course she had, who the hell wouldn't have? She relaxed into the bed, her body still exhausted. Then it occurred to Abby, she was lying in a bed, warm, soft blankets were piled on top of her, she wasn't cold, her head didn't pound as much. Why had everything suddenly changed? The last thing she remembered was lying down, freezing and thirsty on the hard floor of her cell, and now she was in here, wherever "here" was.

"Where am I?" she whispered to Martin.

"In your new room, I redid the extra bedroom I had, just for you, how do you like it?" he seemed proud of his work.

Abby looked around, it was nice, there was a window, high up on the wall so that she couldn't actually look directly out of it, yet it let sun light in. The room had been painted a light blue, and had various paintings on it. The blankets that were covering her matched the walls, as did the sheets, and the pillow cases. But the thing that surprised Abby the most, was that there in the corner of the room, was a television set.

"Thank you," she stammered somewhat confused.

"Your welcome. I was thinking maybe later today, if your feeling up to it, maybe you would like to go outside, for a walk?"

"Yes," Abby didn't know what had come over Martin, but if he was offering her the chance to go outside, he'd better believe she was going to take it.

"Alright, but no funny stuff you know that Abby,"

"I know,"

Martin smiled down at her, before standing up and walking over to the closet. "Here's some clothes for you, you can get dressed. We'll leave in about twenty minutes," and then he walked out, leaving Abby stunned. She did, however, hear the familiar sound of a key in the lock, he obviously still did not trust her enough, he had good reason to.

Abby stood and walked over the closet, searching for anything to wear. She finally decided on a pair of jeans and a black shirt, it still scared her how he seemed to know everything about her, including her size and taste in clothing. After she was finished dressing, Abby looked around the room and onto the dresser. On top of it was a brush and multiple rubber bands to pull her hair back. She quickly combed her hair back into a somewhat nice pony tail, as the knock on the door came.

Martin didn't wait for her to respond, just walked in. "Those looks nice on you," he pointed to the faded jeans that she was currently sporting. "Here," he handed her a baseball hat, "you have to wear it, we cant risk anybody recognizing you." Abby took the hat, and placed it on her head, pulling her pony tail through the back of it. "And these too, I'm sorry, but we cant risk anybody seeing you, not yet anyway.

It took twenty three minutes, door to door, walking distance. The fresh air was a welcome feeling to Abby, after being cooped up in a house for three weeks. Martin was right, nobody recognized her as they walked down the street. Her surroundings, however, were the major shocker. She knew them, knew exactly where she was. Only blocks from county, blocks from Jake, Susan, Sam, her life. For three weeks he had held her, and it had turned out she was so close to her home. But if she was so close, how come the FBI couldn't find her? Hadn't they combed the neighborhood looking for clues, evidence, anything? How could they have missed her?

When they first entered the store, Abby stopped in her tracks, it was as if she was overwhelmed at the site of other human beings. But Martin quickly picked up on it, and gently pulled her along with him, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention. To the public, it looked as if the two were just another couple stopping at the store.

As they walked around the store, Abby kept her gaze down, she didn't want Martin to think that she was trying to get help, to escape. She really wasn't.

"Would you like something to drink?" they were near the refrigerator section now, Martin had grabbed a coke, and was now gesturing for her to pick something out.

"Water?" she asked.

"Sure," he reached over and grabbed the largest bottle he could find and handed it to her, and they continued about their shopping.


	14. Tim

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters..make no money..yadda yadda yadda.

Tim hated his job, no hate was not the word to describe his summer occupation, he loathed it. He would much rather be at the lake with his friends, partying all night and sleeping all day. But no, not since his parents had made him get this God forsaken job at the local Walgreens. His plan now, was to get fired, if he quit his parents would kill him, but if he got fired, there was really nothing they could do about that. All he had to do was be an absolute idiot, while behind the counter. He could do that, easily.

So when two of the customers approached the counter, he didn't so much as look up at them. He was to busy reading an article in the newspaper. Why he read it, he didn't know. Possibly because he was bored, it was the same article that had been in the newspapers for three weeks now, about the missing doctor.

"Man, how about some recent news," he didn't mean to say it that loud, but the male customer heard him.

"Excuse me?" he asked, as he unloaded the contents of his cart onto the counter. Tim noticed how his lady companion stayed close to him, how she kept her head hung down, and how she still had her sunglasses on. But yet there was something about her, that he just couldn't put a finger on, something that kept his eyes on her.

"Is this all?" Tim said once the man had finished pilling all of the stuff on to the counter.

"Oh," Martin reached over and grabbed the water from Abby's hands, and handed it to Tim, "this too."

Tim noticed how the women seemed to jump when the man grabbed the water from her hands, but she didn't say anything. As he scanned the items he glanced back down at the newspaper, and that's when it hit him! He knew exactly why this person looked familiar, even with the hat and sunglasses he recognized her. She was the one the entire nation was looking for, she was Dr. Abby Lockhart, standing right there in front of him, alive!

But Tim was not stupid, not by a long shot, he wasn't going to confront the man who he now knew was a murder. The security camera directly above them would catch everything, he would contact the FBI once they left, and let them know exactly what he had seen, then he would collect the $50,000 reward that was now being offered for Abby's safe return.

"20.24 is your total," he calmly told the man, not wanting to alert him that he knew exactly what was going on. He handed Tim cash, and gathered his bags, handing one off to Abby, before the two made their way to the door. He watched as they walked away, the man stood and walked very close to Abby, as if he was making sure she wouldn't run away, but judging by the way she had acted in the store, Tim really didn't see that as a big problem.

"Ryan!" he shouted to his coworker who was stocking shelves, "Come here," the other boy walked over and joined his friend, interested as to what could be so important.

"Can you watch the counter for me real quick man, I'll be right back I swear," Ryan nodded, happy to get away from putting boxes onto shelves for any amount of time. Tim ran around the counter and in search of his manager, maybe he could put some input into what he had just seen.


	15. A Life to Save!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters..make no money..yadda yadda yadda.

Fisher, Carson and Jennings walked into the Walgreens, forty five minutes after they had first received a tip which they considered could be credible. To bad the kid had waited nearly two days to call the FBI.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for a Tim Ronaldson," Fisher flashed his badge to the first person he found that bore the telltale nametag.

"Oh, he's back in the pharmacy, Is he in some sort of trouble or something?" the kid asked, but the agents just ignored the question and headed back towards the pharmacy.

Tim and his manager, Bonnie, were sitting in the chairs across the pharmacy counter. Normally, these chairs were reserved for customers, but there was no customers, and the chairs seemed to calling them to have a seat, and so they did.

"Tim Ronaldson?" Tim looked up to see three people approaching him.

"Yeah, that's me," both him and Bonnie stood up.

"I'm Agent Fisher with the FBI, and this is Agent Jennings and Agent Carson." Fisher gestured to the other two agents with him.

"This is Bonnie Jamingson, she's my manager, she called you," Tim informed the three.

"Is there somewhere we can talk privately?"

"We can use the employee area, that's about as private as it can get," Bonnie said and lead everyone through a door, into another one, which opened up into another room, with a couch and a television. It reminded Fisher exactly of County's doctors lounge.

"Tim, you think you saw Abby Lockhart?"

"I know I did, I recognized her from all the photos,"

"We have security tapes, if that will help?" Bonnie suggested.

"Yeah, lets grab those," Jennings said.

Over the next two hours, after extensive reviewing of tapes, and interviews with the staff, Fisher couldn't believe what he was seeing. Abby Lockhart had walked through that very store two days earlier, with what Fisher assumed, was her kidnapper at her side.

"Wait!" Carson suddenly stood up, they were yet again reviewing the tapes, "Rewind it," the tape was rewound and stopped when Caron motioned for them to.

"We've seen him before.." Caron began.

"At the hospital, that's where Abby knew him from." Fisher listened to everything that was going on around him. Their suspect had been most likely walked right past them, might have even talked to them, and nobody even had any idea. They had to get back to County ASAP, and hopefully intercept the asshole who had haunted their lives for months. They knew what he looked like, they knew where he worked and they knew that he had Abby Lockhart alive, at least he did two days before.

Within two minutes, security at County had been alerted and the three agents were on their way to the ER, a police escort leading them, after all they had a life to save.


	16. Take Down

Disclaimer: don't own them.

Kerry watched her staff continue to work, if that's what it could be considered. They did their jobs alright, they acted as doctors, but that was it. The halls had a sort of depressing aurora to them, and everyone could feel it.

"Hi Dr. Weaver," she looked up to see the friendly face of the ER's janitor looking back at her.

"Hello Martin," she smiled back. "How are you?"

"Pretty good, and you?" she was about to answer when suddenly she noticed that the ER had suddenly seemed to be full of security guards. And they all seemed to be gathered around the entrance and staring in one general direction, hers. Instinct told Kerry Weaver that something was about to go down, and go down fast.

"I'm good," and then it happened. Fisher, Jennings, and Carson all came in through the door, hands ready to draw their weapons, an expression on their faces that Kerry had never seen before. All she knew was that they had all left in a hurry four hours ago, refusing to tell anybody where they were going.

Fisher spotted him, he was talking to Dr. Weaver, calmly. He still didn't seem to have a clue as to what was going on. How somebody couldn't notice fourteen security guards, and three FBI agents about to tackle him, was beyond Fisher.

As Fisher got closer, he felt his anger growing and growing, he was going to take this guy down right here in the very ER where he had taken his last victim.

"Excuse me, sir!" Fisher shouted once he knew that if the janitor took off, he would be caught, he couldn't run anywhere, the place was crawling with officials. He was right, Martin saw him and took off, but Fisher, was to fast and caught up with him easily, and threw him against the wall. Narrowly missing pushing the janitor into Dr. Pratt, but Pratt wasn't his chief concern right then. Carson and Jennings right behind him. Fisher could feel the numerous pairs of eyes upon the scene that was unfolding. He knew that many of them belonged to the staff of the ER, and he knew what they were probably thinking.

"You son of a bitch!" Fisher screamed, not caring about protocol or anything else for that matter right then, he literarily had the Michigan Avenue Strangler in his hands, backed up against a wall. And now, even if Martin did get past Fisher he sure as hell was not going to get past the doctors, nurses, and patients that were witnessing this. They nowknew that the janitor was the one who had kidnapped and possibly murdered Abby.

"What the hell! Get off me!" Martin was fighting him back.

"Where is she?" he asked, drawing his gun, making sure Martin knew that Fisher had the upper hand now. The ER was deathly quite now, everyone to stunned to move or say anything.

Martin laughed, the agent wouldn't shoot him as long as he didn't tell where Abby was. "I don't know what you are talking about Agent Fisher," the joy was back in his voice, Fisher instantly picked up on it.

"Abby Lockhart! I know you have her! Tell me where she is before I blow your fucking brains out!"

"How do you know I had anything to do with her kidnapping?" he was back to playing games, he knew how to get the reactions he wanted from anybody.

"Get up!" Fisher bent down and pulled Martin up by his shirt, as Carson came around and grabbed Martin's wrist, Fisher and the security guards keeping their guns trained on him.

Neither man was willing to give an inch, Fisher wanted Abby, and Martin enjoyed toying with him. Fisher knew that Martin had the upper hand at least for the moment, it wouldn't take the agents long to tear apart that house, board by board if that's what it took, he was hell bent on getting the doctor back from the low life that had taken her. His hand went under Martin's throat now, not happy that this man was playing games with him, "Dr. Lockhart, where is she now." With each word, Fisher's grip grew tighter on Martin's throat.

Martin grinned a cold evil grin, "hell if I know, maybe you'll see her there." And that was all it took. Fisher reached over and slugged him in the face, Martin's nose, obviously had broken. Nobody moved, nobody would dare to get in front of Fisher at that moment. Martin got what he deserved.

"Agent Fisher," it was Jennings, the lone female whose voice seemed to bring a calm to any male that was pissed off. It had worked with Jake and it was working with Fisher. She pulled him away gently so that Carson could handcuff the suspect.

"You are under arrest for the kidnapping of Abigail Lockhart, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law," as Carson read the Miranda Rights, Fisher noticed something on Martin's wrist. He waited until the rights had been stated before grabbing it.

"You tell me you don't have Abby, then where the hell did this come from? Tell you what, why don't you go ahead and tell us where Abby is, and I'll try and get you out of this ER alive, because I guarantee you, the staff will kill you, if you so much as laid a hand on her."

"Oh Agent Fisher," he spoke loud, making sure everyone could hear him now. Martin knew that he was caught, might as well keep them on their toes while he could. "You know I laid more then just a hand on her, you heard her scream remember?"

"Just tell me where to find her,"

"Well you could check the river if you'd really like, but then again, you can check many different locations. You will notfind her,"

"We'll see about that," Fisher snapped back.

As he was led out of the ER, everyone stared on in shock. Abby's kidnapper had been arrested, it was a step in the right direction, yet they still didn't have what they wanted most of all. Abby back with them, where she belonged.

The media was mobbing the outside of the Chicago police station where the man previously only known as the Michigan Avenue Strangler, was now known as Martin Richards, was being held. Fisher and half the police department had been grilling him for information for close tosix hours, and they had yet to get anything valuable from him. He admitted that he did have Abby Lockhart, but refused to say if she was alive or dead.

"Abby was a good girl, you know that Agent Fisher? She really was, it took her a while to understand that I was in charge, but once she realized that, she was an angel," it scared Fisher how Martin kept referring to Abby in the past tense. But he had hope, Fisher had seen her alive on the security camera tape earlier that day.

"Did you kill her?"

"We've been over this agent, if you find Abby, then you'll know."

"What does it matter to you anymore if we find her or not? Your going to die in jail."

"Because Abby is mine, and forever will be. You can't change that,"

"What do you mean she is yours?"

"Oh, you want to know what we did those..lets see how many days did I have her with me?"

"Twenty six, she was living in your hell hole for twenty six days."

"That's right, how could I have forgotten. Do you know what was really great about Abby Agent Fisher," he leaned forward onto the table, as if he was about to tell a story, "I guess she didn't appreciate what I was giving her so to speak, and our little Abby decided to swallow my sleeping pills. Took half the bottle, that's right, she actually tried to kill herself. But luckily I had Ipecac and Charcoal in the house, and forced it down her throat. She didn't feel to good for about a day after that little stunt of hers."

Fisher just stared at him, he knew this guy was a psycho, but just hearing what he was saying about Abby, made Fisher sick.

"She needs help, tell us where she is so we can get to her."

"Correction Agent Fisher, if she is alive, she needs help. There is a big "if" attached to that sentence."

"You don't want her to die," Fisher was going on the assumption that Abby was still alive, and still in need of their help.

"And how do you know that? You know I've killed those other girls, why is Abby Lockhart any different? For all you know, I could have done it already, or maybe she is sitting in her locked room, with no food and water while the FBI is wasting time talking to me!"

"If she is dead, it won't matter now will it!" Fisher said back, but stopped his yelling when he noticed Martin laughing. "What is so funny?"

"I was just thinking of how close Abby came to death so many times, but in the end, I guess it really didn't matter,"

"What does that mean?"

"It means what you want it to mean,"

Fisher was beyond frustrated at this point. He didn't have a clue as to if Abby was still alive. The SWAT team, police and the FBI had surrounded Martin's house, searched it for over eight hours, but found absolutely nothing. Abby, or any of the other girls, had never been held there. Now, Fisher had put Jennings and Carson in charge of searching for a possible second address, so far they had come up with absolutely nothing. If Abby was still alive, the FBI was running out of time.

"What do you mean, she came so close to death so many times?" Fisher was trying anything and everything to get some sort of hint as to where to find her.

"Would you really like to know? I mean, it is graphic, but trust me I don't mind telling at all, if you want to hear it." he seemed proud of whatever he had done to Abby, just making Fisher want to hurt him even more.

"Go ahead, I've probably got the time, seeing it seems as if Abby is dead."

Over the next few hours, Fisher listened and cringed as Martin gloated about his time with Abby.

'No wonder she tried to kill herself,' Fisher thought.

"But it taught her how to behave, three days without anything. I didn't shoot Abby, or strangle her, or inject her with any lethal doses, if Abby is dead, I can tell you it was a very creative way that she passed. Either way, I've made my mark. She died mine or she lives mine. I've won. Now I won't say anything else until I see my lawyer," and then Martin leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, signaling to Fisher that he was done giving him what little information he had.

Abby slowly opened her eyes, and looked directly at the clock. It read 3:54, and judging by the amount of light filtering into the room, it wasn't 3:54 in the morning. Had she really slept all through the night and that late into the afternoon?

She thought back, she remembered walking back into the house after their trip to the pharmacy, how Martin had said something about that he had to go to work, but he still didn't trust her that much. Not enough to leave her completely alone while he went to work. So he had fed her lunch and took her back to her room, before explaining what he would do. It was simple, right before he would leave, he would once again sedate her, and by the time she woke up, he would be home. Martin had tucked her into the new bed, and injected her with whatever he always did, Her eyes quickly became heavy, and before she knew it, she was asleep.

But now, now something was different, she could sense it. Martin had said that he would be there when she woke up, that he would be home around eleven that morning, it was well past eleven now.

It took her only a moment to gather up what strength she could muster, if he wasn't back now, that gave her ample opportunity. Her wits while scattered where still somewhat about her. She knew that right now her life was in her own hands.

Remembering how Martin had left her with a television, Abby got up and switched the thing on to MSNBC, and immediately her heart jumped into her throat.

"The FBI has refused to comment about whether they know the whereabouts of Abby Lockhart, The suspect, know identified as Martin Richards has been charged with her kidnapping. He was arrested yesterday morning at County general. Richards has admitted to kidnapping the doctor, but refuses to tell if he has murdered her," the news anchor reported.

Abby didn't know what to do, Martin was in jail, the FBI couldn't find her, and she had been locked in this room now for two days. She knew that she couldn't get out of the room, Martin had it locked from the outside. The only possible way out, was through the window. But it was to high, she couldn't reach it.

Besides, Martin had warned her not to try anything, the last thing she wanted was him to get angry and punish her again. And she knew he was smart, smarter then the FBI, he would escape, and come home, she knew it.

Abby laughed, when had she suddenly started referring to this as her home? More then that, when did she actually wait for Martin to come home? And then it occurred to her, she was and had been for sometime completely submissive to him now. She would not try and escapee for fear that he might get angry with her, when they had gone to the store, she had not tried to get help, and now, well now she was locked in a room, with no way out. Abby only saw three options, either the FBI would find her alive, Martin would escape and move them both, or the FBI would find her dead, do to dehydration. What worried Abby the most, was the third option, the one that most likely to happen. It was just a matter of time now, there was nothing to do except for her to lie back down and sleep, and that's exactly what she did. Her body still needing to recuperate from the extreme stress that had been dealt upon her, sleep came easily.


	17. Tell Us Where She Is

Two days into the interview process, Fisher finally got somewhere with Martin.

"You know, I will tell you where Abby is, but you have to do something in return," It had come out of the blue, just like that. Fisher had never seen it coming.

"And what is that?"

"I talk to Jake, him and nobody else. I will tell Jake his girlfriend's location,"

"What's the catch?" Fisher didn't like where this was going, Martin was tricky, he knew how to mess with peoples minds.

"No catch, it will just be interesting to see Jake's reaction when I tell him how Abby would plead for her life," Martin smiled.

"No deal," Fisher didn't trust Martin, but at the same time, he couldn't figure out exactly what Martin was up to.

"Fine, but you'll never find Abby, and what if, just by chance Agent Fisher, that she is still alive. She can't last much longer without food or water. She hardly lasted three days the last time I checked on her, so that would give you another day at the most."

"If she is alive,"

"True, if she is alive. So what is your decision? This is a one time only offer Agent, take it or leave it, but it will not come up again,"

Fisher just stared before turning and walking out of the room, looking for Jennings.

"Jennings!" he shouted, when he saw her in the break room. "Go to County and bring Jake here now!" Fisher ordered, the urgency in his voice was apparent, for Jennings dropped her sandwich, grabbed her jacket and ran out of the room.

Ever since Martin's arrest two days earlier, there was a new feeling to County's ER. It was no longer despair, but it was not hope either. The longer Martin was in custody, the more apparent it became that Abby had been murdered and it would only be a matter of time before the FBI was able to locate her remains.

Jake was attempting to keep himself busy, by seeing patients. Of course they were non emergent cases, a stomach ache, a broken finger and a headache were his current workload. He was busy looking over the stomach ache's chart with Susan, neither saying a word, when Agent Jennings walked up to the admit desk.

"Jake." the way she said his name, sent chills up both Jake's and Susan's spines. "Agent Fisher was interrogating Martin, when he asked me to come get you,"

"Abby," his heart jumped into his throat

"I don't know what happened, but we need you down there now,"

Jake looked over at Susan, "Go," she said, and within two minutes, both Jennings and Jake were on their way to the police station. As they drove, Jake couldn't help but think what could be so important. The only thing he thought of was that they had found Abby, alive or dead they had found her.

The drive seemed to last forever, today he would know the answer to the question that had been plaguing him for over three weeks, what had happened to his Abby?

"Excuse me, Agent Fisher, I need to speak with you," Jennings stuck her head in the room where Martin and Fisher were. Without so much as another word, Fisher got up and walked out the door, coming face to face with Jake.

"Jake," he began, not really knowing the right words to this. "Martin agreed to tell us where Abby is, but he will only do it, if you are in the room,"

"How do we know its going to be the right place, that this isn't just another one of his games?"

"We don't, but we can't risk it. Jake, I honestly don't know what he is going to tell us. I want you to prepare yourself for the worst here, he might just come out and say that he did murder her and give us the location of the body. That's most likely what we are going to hear. But on the other hand, he can tell us that she is still alive, and lead us right to her."

"You mean to tell me, when I go in there, that asshole is going to tell me exactly what happened to her?"

"That's what he said, butwe can't waste anymore time," he gestured for Jake to enter the room, Fisher following close behind him.

When Jake first saw Martin, all he felt was anger. Anger for what he had done to Abby, anger for what had put the staff through, for what he had put Abby though.

"You know Jake," was Martin's introduction, "the night I took Abby, we walked right past you, I had her with me as you were busy talking to another doctor. You looked straight at me, and you had no idea. Can't blame you though, you weren't the only one, Dr. Carter actually stopped and had a conversation with me!"

"Where is she?"

"Sit down, a few more minutes wont hurt her!"

"Look, you said you would tell me where she is!"

"Yes, and I will! But Jake, wouldn't you like to hear how much fun we had together? I remember when she first woke up and realized where she was," Martin laughed "She actually kicked me, tried to fight me off, doesn't that sound just like her? I had to keep her sedated for a while after that, until she calmed down."

"You drugged her?" Jake fought back the urge to throw up, the idea of Abby being drugged physically made him sick.

"On numerous occasions, it kept her obedient, let me do my work," Jake cringed at how he so lightly used the word obedient when referring to Abby, as if she were an animal to be trained "She's very strong willed, did you know that? Doesn't give up very easily, maybe that's what kept her alive," Martin looked up at both Jake and Fisher, wanting to capture their reactions once they realized that he had not killed Abby. Fisher had turned white, as had Jake, both men stared on, needing more information, not yet ready to believe what he was telling them. "That's right boys, Abby Lockhart is still alive, at least the last time I saw her she was,"

Jake didn't know what to think, he had convinced himself that Abby had to be dead, but now Martin was telling them that he had not murdered her.

"Where are you keeping her?" Jake asked, trying to hold onto the emotion threatening to overtake him.

"Its funny, you searched for so long, and sometimes you came so close, but yet you never found the house. It is ten minutes walking distance from your hospital Dr. Jake. For three weeks, Abby was only ten minutes away from you. And do you know what's worse, she knew it. Abby knew how close she was to you, and she couldn't do a damn thing about it!"

"What's the address," Fisher was already planning the rescue operation, providing what Martin was telling him was true, and that when the SWAT team raided the house, they wouldn't find a corpse.

"What's the rush? You know she's alive,"

"Yeah, well what if she's injured or sick? She needs help, she needs medical attention now!"

"Well I could tell you her injuries if you'd like, but I don't think any of them are life threatening. She has been pretty sick lately, she is probably pretty dehydrated by now."

"WOULD YOU JUST GIVE US THE DAMN ADDRESS?" Jake screamed, he had lost his restrain, just as Martin had wanted him to.

"Yes, I can do that, do you have a piece of paper," instantly paper and a pen appeared on the table, and Martin scribbled down the location that would lead the FBI to Abby, to who they had been searching for so long.


	18. Rescue

Fisher and the SWAT team, along with the Chicago police, and the hostage rescue team had surround the house, many questions running through all of their minds. Was she in there? Not in a physical sense, but in a spiritual one. They knew the corpse was there- a body of some sort- but was it actually a corpse, or was it still a body, a living body housing a human soul? If she was dead, then how long? If she was alive, in how much pain? Would she be within their capacity to save? What if there was a trap waiting for them? Baited with her, or the promise of her. What if they were about to explode into a million bloody, ragged pieces, fragments, just another part of his sick game, the final stab aimed at the people who had tried to rescue Abby, could also become his next and final victims.

The media had quickly learned of what was happening and had gathered along with a growing crowd of bystanders, across the street, all wondering what was about to go down.

SWAT men in Kevlar vests, all around, the place was surrounded. A sniper or two hid in the shadows. What if? She was probably dead. It was just too plausible. Too realistic. Something like this just doesn't turn out well. Don't hold your breath. It won't do any good. But what if she was still alive?

They slammed down the door, as helicopters hovered overheard, the thud and crack were both insufferable, it had been done a dozen times in the past- and as it fell, the first of the SWAT team swarmed in. Those that weren't on the perimeter, were waiting to be the flank. Rifles, guns extended, fingers on the trigger guard, waiting for the slightest reason to move them to the trigger, to pull that little piece of metal, to fire and send the slightest thing that moved as foe into oblivion. Whatever they needed to do, to get Abby out safe, would be done.

One room cleared, then a hall, and another and another. No sound came from the house. Not television, not radio, not human suffering. Had she died, had the promise of her being alive been nothing but a lie? Each time a new room came, there was that sickening feel of bile and swallowed sputum. There were the ulcers forming prematurely. Stomach acid rising. The pressed on. A train of men, one behind the other, clad all in black Sniper gear, FBI and SWAT printed on the backs of them all, for anybody to easily identify.

And then the last room. They kicked the door in. She sat there, in the middle of the room, staring out the window. Silent. As though she had been sitting there for so long. Resigned. The noise seemed to catch her by surprise, as it would anyone. Her face was ghost white, she was incredibly thin, and just by looking at her, a quick glance, it was easy to see that Abby was in need of urgent medical attention.

She looked at them. Her eyes blank. Iced over. The look in her face-but not her eyes, which were nearly devoid of emotion, was one of fear. Was she that afraid that she could not move? Paralyzed for fear of yet more strange men coming in to take her somewhere else, even if that somewhere else was safety. Or was she biting her tongue, holding back a scream? The answer was there when she fainted. And they were all shocked by how tiny she looked, huddled there on the floor, the heap she had collapsed into.

"We've got her! We need the paramedics! " the leader of the SWAT team shouted into his ear piece as she slowly approached Abby. The team lowered their weapons, realizing that the house was empty, besides Abby, and that there was no trap waiting for them.

"Dr. Lockhart?" he bent down and pressed his fingers to her neck, searching for a pulse. "Dr. Lockhart, if you can hear me, its okay, its over with, you're safe now," he pulled off his mask, as he spoke. Suddenly, he was pushed out of the way by Agent Fisher, who was leading the paramedics into the room.

Abby heard the commotion outside, the sound of helicopter flying over head. Something was going on and it scared the hell out of her. Then came a large bang, followed by loud shouts, people were yelling, screaming something, what she couldn't make out. She listened as at first they moved closer to her room, then farther away, and then close again. They had stopped at her door, they were coming in now. And then, suddenly, they were there. About ten of them, guns drawn, all pointed at her, all she could do was stare.

"We've got her, she's alive!" Abby heard one of them shout, and then she didn't know what to do anymore. Abby remembered the second time she had awoken with Martin in the room, how she had pretended to be asleep, how it had worked. Maybe it would with them. Her idea had to work, so she let herself collapse into a ball on the floor and closed her eyes, praying that they would just turn around and leave. They didn't, suddenly she felt someone's hands, another strangers hands, on her body, touching her.

They were asking her to come back to them, telling her that it was all over, but she didn't believe them, she couldn't. But then she heard two familiar voices, one she could easily identify as Agent Fisher and the other she couldn't put a name to.

Fisher, was to say the least, shocked. Martin had not lied to them, Abby Lockhart was lying in front of him alive, but she was not in the best of conditions. As soon as he had heard the SWAT team announce that they had found her and they needed the paramedics, Fisher had rushed in, the paramedics right behind him.

"Abby," he began and kneeled down next to her. "Abby, open your eyes for us, were not going to hurt you," he put a hand on her arm and instantly felt her body tense, she was conscious, it was more then he could have hoped for.

"Excuse me Agent Fisher, I really need to check her out," the paramedic didn't wait for a response, just brushed right past him, and sat down next to Abby. He had waited for the all clear sign that was given the medics moved in to recover the victim, knowing that she was a young woman who had been to have been horrifically traumatized by her whole ordeal, it was hard to imagine just what all she might have succumbed to at the hands of a mad man. The medic slowly and carefully approached the young doctor not wanting to make any sudden movements, kneeling down beside her seeing that she was in this state somewhere between being unconscious and being in shock. They could see the blank look in her eyes as if this was nothing more than a mere shell the life having been long sucked from it.

"Dr. Lockhart," it was Todd, the last paramedic that had had a conversation with Abby, the night she was abducted. "I'm Todd," he said as he reached down to gently check her over, "we're going to take good care of you," he somehow managed to pull Abby out of the tight ball she had curled herself into, so that she lying on her back. Members of the SWAT team still congregating, all very protective over the no longer missing doctor, that they had successfully rescued. Not wanting this to go in any way shape or form, wrong.

By now, Todd's partner, Joe had joined them. He, like Todd, also knew Abby, and it killed them both to see the once strong and confident doctor, reduced down to this.

"You want to start a line?" Joe asked, already reaching for the supplies, knowing what Todd's answer would be.

"Yeah," he looked back down at Abby, who had yet to move, yet to make eye contact. She looked as though she was going into shock. She probably was. "Here, Joe, let me do it," he grabbed the supplies from his partner and gently rubbed the alcohol on her arm. "Abby, I need to start an IV alright, we'll be out of here in a minute, just hold on for a second."

Abby felt the needle piercing her skin instinct started to take a hold she didn't trust, she couldn't trust the people that were around her. Friend or foe she didn't know as her body started to fight against those who were hurting her, she needed to protect herself, to get away and escape right now where the only thoughts that were going through her mind.

She was fighting them, and Todd knew they needed to get the line started, he held her arm firmly as she fought against him, there wasn't much fight there, but enough to make it hard to make getting the line in difficult. He spoke to her in soft tones, trying to reassure her that he wasn't going to hurt her, but no matter what he said it didn't seem to make a difference. The tears that were rolling down her cheeks where the only sign that was coming from the doctor, she hadn't said anything since they had gotten there and if it hadn't been for the tears, he wouldn't have any idea just how bad she was hurting on the inside. He would comfort her the best that he could, damage had been done that only time itself could repair, but he didn't think from what he had seen that there would be enough time in the world for this young woman to recover from the emotional trauma she had suffered

"Its alright, its okay, we're not going to hurt you Abby I promise," he whispered, as he continued trying to get the needle inside her skin. She was still struggling against them, but Joe had pressed his hands, gently but firmly on her shoulders, which easily held her down, and then just as soon as she had started, she stopped, Just lied back down, she had given up, or maybe she had realized that they were only there to help. "Okay, Abby all done," Todd said after he had finally started the line. He had almost given up on finding a vein in her hand and arm, and was about to move to the legs, when on his last stick, he managed to get one in. "Its just saline, nothing else," he had heard from one of the agents that Abby had been repeatedly drugged, that would explain why she was probably be just one of the many reasons she was so upset about him starting the IV.

Once he was sure that Abby was stable, he turned to his partner. "are we going to be able to get out of here?" Todd asked as the crowd continued gathering, newspaper reports, TV journalists, it seemed that everyone was converging on this one house in Chicago, news traveled fast and right now he and his partner were responsible for getting the biggest new story in the Nation away to assure her safety and well being. Joe just shrugged his shoulders, to busy making sure the IV was in place correctly.

"Okay Dr. Lockhart, we're going to take you to County, alright?" as suspected he didn't receive any kind of response. He watched as Joe lowered the gurney before once again addressing Abby. "Do you want to get on the gurney, or would you rather we lift you?" no response. "Okay, here we go," he bent down and wrapped one arm under her knees and the other behind her neck. Immediately, Abby felt it and began once again to attempt to fight them. Todd, knew it was coming, but continued to hold his grasp on her, as he lowered her to the gurney. "There you go, just lie back" he said as he placed her down, but she shot back up, ready to run. He caught her and gently held her around the waist, guiding her back to a lying position on the gurney.

"Abby, we need you to lie down so we can leave," Joe's voice was not as reassuring and understanding as Todd's. But she didn't listen, and kept trying to get off of the bed.

"Alright, just lie down, it will be okay Abby I promise, I promise" Todd pushed her back down, and held her there, stroking back her hair, as Joe brought the straps over her now shaking body, more to restrain her and stop her from hurting herself, then anything else. The tears had returned. One of the SWAT members had joined them in pulling the straps over her body, the faster they got that done, the faster Abby could get out of there. Todd had to turn his head away for just a second as the strap was brought over her chest, how for that instant Abby had stopped fighting and kept her gaze upon Tom's hands, watching where they went. When he looked back, she had seemed to relax a little bit knowing that, she wasn't going anywhere. He brought the sheet and multiple blankets over her, and smiled down at her. "let's get you of here, Dr. Lockhart."

"You ready?" Joe asked, and with a quick nod, he went to the front of the gurney, and surrounded by the reaming members of the SWAT team, guided the gurney outside.

The cops where one step ahead of them clearing a path through the sea of reports so that they could transport her safely and from the look of her they instantly knew that there would be no time for questions, asked or unasked they would have to wait for answers.

Multiple flashes of light went off when everyone first saw the gurney being wheeled out of the house. Everybody desperately wanting to get the first glimpse of the doctor who had been a part of their lives for three weeks now. The police had to surround the ambulance, clearing way so that Todd and Joe could easily put her inside, and leave within minutes.

Fisher approached Joe, once Abby was safe inside the rig. "How is she?"

Joe, already knowing who Fisher was, answered as she walked around to the side of the ambulance.

"Not good, medically she seems to be in the clear, but whatever he did to her.."

"You're taking her to county right?" Joe nodded his answer in response.

"it's the closest trauma center, we're only a few minutes out. " Joe paused, this case was really getting to him. He had brought patients to county before, and Abby had been the one to take some of them. Now he had to see her like this. It was a sight that no one wanted to see, it was always harder when it was one of their own. "He had her for three weeks, and it turns out, they were only a couple miles from the ER." Joe shook his head as he climbed in, "are you going to meet us there,"

"Yeah, I need to deal with the media first."

"Alright," Joe turned on the engine and guided the rig slowly out through the mass of people. As soon as it was clear, the sirens went on and the ambulance speed off, some reporters following, but most staying behind, anxiously awaiting to hear what Fisher had to say.

"Agent Fisher…." this was it, the questions had began.

"I cant release any details right now. I will hold a press conference at County in two hours," and with that he got into his own car and followed the ambulance to the hospital.


	19. Safe at County

Thank you for all of your reviews!

Disclaimer: don't own them.

They had been alerted by multiple sources that Abby had been rescued and was on her way to County, on her way back to them. As the word spread through the ER, everyone began to wonder what it would be like? How would Abby react? Would she just pretend like nothing had happened, or would she actually open up to someone, anyone.

Kerry had been the first to get the word, and immediately announced that only females members would be allowed in the trauma room with Abby, until they had a good enough guess as to both her mental and physical condition.

Kerry, Susan and Sam had gathered outside the ambulance bay, waiting. The police had been forced to block the bay from the media, to give the ambulance a chance to pull up. It had been a long and frustrating three weeks for them, full of worry and wonder of what might have become of their friend, their colleague, in the hands of a mad man. Nobody knew what to think, what to do, or what to say once they were able to see Abby again.

"Here they come," Kerry pointed to the approaching ambulance. The sirens were blaring as the once hint of an ambulance became bigger until it came to a stop right in front of the bay door. The as if out of nowhere she watched as the media began recording footage of them as they hastily pulled open the back of the rig, the doors wide open, unsure of what they would encounter.

Joe had already jumped from the front of the stopped rig and was running back around to help his partner and Abby. "Hey Dr. Weaver." Joe said seeing the familiar physician's face, he knew that they were all full of worry as well, he grabbed onto the side of the gurney. "She's really out of it, I just want to warn you." the three nodded their heads, already expecting it. But really out of it, didn't give them enough details as of what to think. Out of it as in unconscious, or out of it as in refusing to acknowledging anybody's presence.

And then the doors opened, and for the first time in three weeks, they got to see Abby. Instantly their hearts broke, this wasn't the Abby they were used to, and most likely they would never see that Abby again. She was lying down on the gurney, buried beneath a multitude of blue blankets, a bag of saline dripping into her almost lifeless looking body.

"Abby, honey, its Kerry, your safe now," Kerry said, knowing that Susan and Sam were still to choked up to speak. But Abby didn't look up, she kept her gaze down as they wheeled her into the ER, the gurney once again surrounded by cops.

The hallway was silent as they raced to the trauma room, not needing to necessarily save her life, but to get her out of the public's eye. Once in the privacy of trauma one, the shades were pulled to block views at all entrances, and security guards were posted at the doors. Nobody, including staff, could get in that room, unless Kerry Weaver gave the go ahead.

Together, there was a grand total of six people in the room. Todd, Joe, Kerry, Susan, Sam and of course, Abby who had yet to say anything. They started in as if this was any other trauma that they would have to deal with, as hard as it was the staff needed to back away from the situation and keep personally feelings at bay. While this was Abby, if they got to involved they wouldn't be objective in their medical care, and right now Abby needed them to be at their best, medical attention needed to come first.

"Abby," Susan called out, "can you hear me." There was a chilling silence in the room when Abby didn't respond she didn't even flinch to the presence of the doctor's in the room. Susan began the process of checking Abby for injuries among the bruises that lined her face, her arms, her legs, it was heart wrenching to see her in this state and everyone felt the same, all they wanted to do right now was take care of Abby. She was lying there nearly motionless locked in her own little world, or so it appeared.

She handed the chart over to Kerry knowing that Kerry had seen the same things that she had seen, knowing Kerry would be thinking the same thing that she was thinking, she had to be, there was no doubt in Susan's mind what had happened to Abby, that unspeakable act that every woman dreaded. It was painfully obvious to everyone, including the paramedics in the room, what had happened. There was something about the way that she was acting that just made the fact that she had been traumatized stand out even more.

"You want a rape kit?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, let's do that now, get it out of the way." Susan responded before turning her attention back to Abby. "Abby, we need to do a rape exam alright, we'll make it fast," Susan didn't know why she had expected a response from Abby, but it was an attempt to get her to say anything, even if it was to object, it didn't work.

As Susan got ready to make sure that Abby was fully okay, that she hadn't been hurt even worse, places that they couldn't see, Abby started to fight back. She had apparently realized what they were about to do, most likely when Sam began cutting off her shirt. Abby began pulling away from everyone, from their touch, there was a sense of urgency in her that was telling her that she needed to get out of there and get out of there now, there was no place where she was ever going to feel safe again. Taken from outside her place of work and then taken from within the walls where she thought she was safe had shattered Abby to the core.

Susan watched as her best friend, her patient became more and more agitated. The alarm signals didn't need to tell her that, it was obvious by Abby's struggling against the doctors and nurse. They were cutting off her clothes, and she was trying to push their hands away.

"Honey, its okay, we're not going to hurt you I promise," Susan whispered to her. Nothing that Susan was saying seemed to be registering with Abby it was almost as if she couldn't hear her.

Susan tried her hardest to keep Abby calm as she was kicked and clawed as she tried to do the exam on her, there were signs of trauma and Susan was taking her fair share of bruises from Abby now as she did what needed to be done. But it was no use, Abby was to severely traumatized to trust even her best friend. She thought back to when Abby's neighbor has assaulted her years before, how Susan had to do the same exam, but that was different. At least then Abby would talk to her, show emotion, anything., But now, Susan didn't know what to do, Abby was literally fighting them tooth and nail, desperately trying to defend herself, what dignity she had left.

Sam and Kerry had decided not to restrain her using the conventional method, but each had taken a post on either side of her, and gently held her so Susan could finish her job. What scared the hell out of the doctors, was not that Abby was fighting as much as she was, but that she was completely silent while doing it. Not a sound had escaped from her lips, even when Susan had started the exam. They were meticulous in their collection of evidence, making sure to mark every tear, bruise, anything that might in someway help nail this guy to the wall for what he had done to Abby. It was clear to both Kerry and Susan that this man had done to her.

"Okay Abby, we're done," Kerry told her once she saw Susan scoot away from the end of the gurney, and put Abby's legs back down on the bed. Sam had gently placed a gown over Abby, her shaking getting to Sam, the fear she saw in Abby, was like no other. She had never seen a patient act like this, much less Abby. The tears had yet to stop, but she had stopped struggling long before.

Kerry, Sam and Susan all looked at each other not sure of what to do next, it was obvious that they would need psych to come down and attempt to get Abby to talk, but for now they were clueless.

Susan, at a last attempt to get Abby to talk, or in the very least, make eye contact, grabbed a stool, and sat down next to Abby's left side. Kerry and Sam looked on cautiously.

"Abs," and that's when Susan made the mistake, she reached over and grazed Abby's shoulder, suddenly bringing her friend out of the trance she had been locked in for a while now. But for some reason, something that Susan had said triggered a violent response, one that nobody would have expected from Abby. In one quick motion, she sat up, and swung at the closest person to her, who just happened to be Kerry on her left side. Her fist collided with Kerry's eye, momentarily stunning her but nothing more, while it had hurt, Abby simply didn't have that much strength in her anymore to do any serious damage to anybody.

"Susan, we need to sedate her," Kerry managed to get out, as she pressed her hand to her eye, already feeling the swelling. She would defiantly have a shiner within the next hour. Susan nodded in agreement.

"Let's do 2.5 of Ativan," she told Sam, as she and Kerry tried to prevent Abby from hurting anybody else, or herself, by forcefully holding her down on the gurney, and still, not a sound from her.

"Ativan's in," Sam announced as soon as she had injected the sedative into Abby's IV. She aided the two doctors is restraining her friend, until the medicine finally took effect. Within ten minutes, Abby was asleep, no longer struggling, no longer afraid, at least at the moment.

Sam looked up only to see tears in Susan's eyes, she didn't blame her, she felt the same thing on her own cheeks. It was horrible to see Abby like this, they all knew it was going to be bad when she first came in, but this was beyond all of their expectations. Never in their combined careers had anybody ever seen such a traumatized victim. But when had they started referring to Abby as a victim, and no longer their friend, coworker, or just Abby?

"Sam," it was Susan's voice, "Can you call psyche, tell them we need them to come down here ASAP," Susan spoke softly, hating to admit that they needed to call down a psychiatrist.

The nurse nodded, before walking over to the phone and dialing the number. "Dr. Winters is coming down, said she'll be here in about twenty minutes,"

"Its not like we're going anywhere," Susan once again took her seat on the stool and scooted up to the gurney, trying to figure out how in anyway shape or form she could bring Abby back.

Although her injuries were not life threatening, they would have to keep her for observation, for a few days. Dehydration, two broken ribs, a badly sprained wrist, and lack of food for three weeks would be hell on anybody, Abby was no different. Her body was showing signs of lack of food, she had lost an incredible amount of weight, making her tinier then she already was before she had disappeared. When she had first laid eyes upon Abby, after getting over the initial shock of actually seeing her, Susan could immediately tell she was dehydrated just by the look of her skin. She had thought for sure Abby's wrist would be broken, just judging by the swelling and bruising, but x-ray had not shown that. But what was broken was two ribs, she had probably been kicked, or hit, or any multiple amount of things could explain that injury. And until Susan was absolutely sure that she had recovered from that list, she would be staying safe at County. Her friends watching over her constantly.


	20. ER

Disclaimer: dont own them!

(Oh yeah! Sorry my updates have been taking a while, I was working at a diabetes camp for kids, and well after that I was in despertate need of sleep! Thanks for sticking with me!)

The room remained deathly silent, besides the occasional beep from the monitors, for a few minutes. Then came a knock on the door, followed by the entrance of Dr. Winters.

"So this is the famous Dr. Lockhart?" she asked as she gestured to Abby sleeping peacefully on the gurney.

"That's Abby," Susan replied attempting to smile.

"Can I see her chart?" Kerry handed the chart over, and Winters glanced over it, her face remaining expressionless. "Okay, has she said anything?"

"No, nothing. She wont even make eye contact, she fights us when we come close to her. We had to sedate her, after she hit Dr. Weaver," Susan pointed to Kerry, whose eye was turning black.

"Looks as if she hit her target," Winters smiled. Suddenly, another knock was heard and Agent Fisher appeared.

"How's she doing?" he asked, keeping his voice down.

"As to be expected, I'm sure your staff, Dr. Lewis, would like to know her condition." Winters nodded to the door, trying to convince the three to leave.

"We cant leave her in here by herself, if she wakes up by herself," Susan began but Winters quickly interrupted.

"You don't have to. Sam, would you mind?" Winters asked.

"Not at all," the nurse replied as she tucked the blankets around Abby, who had managed to kick them off in her sleep.

"Kerry, Susan, why don't you come with me, Sam, if she starts to wake up page us immediately," Winters was taking charge now. It was clear that the staff needed Winters more at that precise moment, then Abby did. Susan reluctantly followed Kerry, Fisher and Winters out the door, feeling somewhat guilty that she was leaving Abby.

As soon as they left the room, Susan felt the gaze of what seemed like the entire city of Chicago on her. Everyone wanted to know Abby's condition and they wanted to know it now.

"Jake, Carter and Luka are in the lounge," Frank informed her as she walked by, "Dr. Lewis," he stopped for a minute. He, like the rest of the staff had missed Abby, and even though he would not show it as much as the others, he was more than happy to have her back. He himself had once been a cop, he had known first hand the chances of ever rescuing her alive were slim to none. And he also knew all to well what Abby's rescue must have been like, how traumatic that could be. That alone would traumatize anybody. "How is she?"

"She's okay Frank," was all she said and headed into the lounge, She needed to talk to those three first, the three that had at one point, been dating Abby.

Jake was standing, leaning against the lockers, Carter was on the couch, and Luka was near the coffee maker, each seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. They hadn't even heard the others enter.

"Jake," all three heads shot up at the sound of Susan's voice.

"Is she alright, can I see her?" he was already heading to the door, but Fisher caught him.

"Not yet Jake, we need to talk. Sit down," Susan directed. Over the next hour, Susan went over everything she had witnessed about Abby's behavior, and Fisher explained how the rescue went down.

"Jake, I don't know when you can see her, we have to get her to talk to us before, and then we'll go from there," Winters explained.

Susan slowly walked back to the doors of the trauma room, Kerry and Winters had stayed behind in the lounge, to answer the rest of the staff's questions. Susan couldn't stand it anymore, everyone kept asking what Abby had told them, if she had changed, if she was afraid, questions Susan honestly could not answer. Questions she did not want to answer. The guards moved aside when they saw the doctor coming back, but didn't completely get away from the door, allowing Susan to look through the window.

She watched her best friend sleep, not knowing what to think anymore. She was emotionally exhausted, she had found out only three hours ago that her best friend was alive, and that she would be brought to County. And then after the incident in the trauma room, Susan didn't have much left in her.

"How is she?" Susan asked as she walked into the room.

"Still out of it, she hasn't moved since you left," Susan nodded. Sam looked at her coworker and knew what she was thinking. She to had thought the same thing while Sam was alone with Abby. It had given her just enough time to deeply consider the question and come up with a pretty god answer. "Susan, they got to her in time, think of it that way," Susan was surprised how well Sam seemed to be able to read exactly what she was thinking.

Susan paused before taking a deep breath, the tears came again. "No, Sam, I don't think they got to her in time," If they had gotten to her in time, her friend wouldn't have been a shell of a person, Abby was in there somewhere, how and when they would reach her no one knew.

Sam looked over at Abby, contemplating what Susan had just said. It was true, the FBI had gotten to Abby before she was murdered, but not before the extensive psychological damage had been done. Now it was a question of whether or not that damage could be reversed.

"Sam," Susan's voice cracked, "We're never going to have her back, she wont be the same. Of all people for this to happen to, why did it have to be Abby? God, she was just starting to get over the trauma over her last abduction! Her last abduction Sam, this was number two. Most people don't have this sort of thing happen to them, and if they do, it usually happens only once in their lifetime. Abby's had it happen twice is a few months! It isn't fair, why did he pick her? What was she in his eyes that nobody else had? She's my best friend Sam," Susan desperately wanted to scream the words she was whispering, but that would wake Abby. Someone shouting probably would not help her recovery. "I've all but lost her," Sam stared at Susan is shock, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Don't you dare Susan, don't you dare give up on Abby. She's going to need you more then ever before now, she's going to need a friend now. When she first got here, Abby needed you to be her doctor, but when she wakes up, she's going to need her best friend, more then ever before" Sam was not angry with Susan, but frustrated that it seemed as if she was ready to give up on Abby. "Look, I think she's waking up," Sam pointed to Abby who seemed to be moving around a lot more, her breathing had become more labored possibly signaling that she was alert and hearing what was being said.

"Alright, can you page Dr. Winters?" Susan regained her composure knowing that Sam was right, and that Abby would need a friend now. She needed to be in control when Abby first saw her, the more put together Susan was, the easier it would be for Abby.

Minutes later, Winters joined them. "Has she said anything?"

"No, she hasn't opened her eyes, but we know she's awake," Susan offered her information to the psychiatrist

"You sedated her about two hours ago?" a nod from both Susan and Sam. "Yeah, she probably is aware." Winters once again grabbed Abby's chart before pulling up a chair next to Abby's gurney. "Abby, if you can hear me I need you to open your eyes," Winters watched for any kind of response, and received the sight of Abby deliberately squeezing her eyes shut tighter. "Abby, I know your awake," she kept her voice soft and caring, but she still didn't receive a response. "Abby, my name is Dr. Winters, I'm not going to leave you alone until you open your eyes for me." she watched as she seemed to get through to Abby and she began to open her eyes. She had been the only one to successfully do so. "Hi Abby," Winters said when the doctor refused to look directly at her. Winters moved her chair so that she could be in Abby's line of sight. Her gaze was vacant, Winters had seen that look in severely traumatized patients, and Abby defiantly fell into that category. "Abby, do you know where you are?" She didn't receive any kind of response, anything that would clue her into that Abby was hearing her. "Abby" Winters intentionally used her name every time she addressed her, making sure that Abby knew she was being spoken to, even if she wasn't listening. "you're safe now. Martin was taken to jail, he can't get here. He can not harm you anymore. You're at County, Susan and Sam are here, all of your friends want to see you, talk to you." still nothing. "Do you want to sit up?" Winters reached around to the end of the gurney and adjusted it so that Abby was in an upright position.

"Abby, I just want to make sure you know that you are in complete control here, what you want goes right now." it was a different angle to approach the doctor, handing over full control, the control Abby hadn't had in three weeks. She still wouldn't look at Winters. "Abby, are you hungry?" Winters had read in the chart that she was dehydrated and malnourished the first time she was in the room. "Would you like to go to the cafeteria and grab something to eat," It was becoming clearer to Winters that she wasn't going to get anywhere tonight. "Abby, we're going to take you upstairs in about five minutes if that's okay with you, if not I need you to tell me right now." it was the last option Winters had at the moment, it was a long shot, but she needed to get Abby to talk. She needed to hear Abby's voice, whether it be her yelling, shouting or whispering, it didn't matter, Winters was just trying to get her patient to communicate. It didn't work.

"Okay Abby, just give us a second and we'll be on our way." she stood up and walked over to Susan and Sam, "I need to speak with you outside," she knocked on the doors and the agents instantly parted, letting the three out. "Is there somewhere private we can go?"

"Are you serious? Have you not seen the media? I would be surprised if this place wasn't bugged," Sam answered.

"What about the other trauma room? I would say we can go to my office, but I don't want to leave Dr. Lockhart alone. She needs to know someone is always there to protect her."

"We can try," the three walked over to trauma two and stood inside looking into the other room at Abby. However the doors were kept open, if Abby needed them, all she would have to do was whisper and they could hear her.

"Whatever he did to Abby, he did a damn good job of it. She wont acknowledge my presence or yours. Its going to take a long time, I might need to look at psychiatric intensive care for her."

"Dr. Winters, do you think there is any possibility that she went home, it would help?"

"It might, but I cannot release her from care right now. She's in a sort of mental shock, and knowing that I cant in good conscience release her." Fisher had pulled Winters aside earlier and told her what Martin had told him, about Abby trying to kill herself. But Winters had decided not to inform Abby's colleagues of that, not just yet.

Abby heard noises around her, but she kept her gaze down. He had drugged her again, she could feel it, it made her body feel different, like she was under some sort of cloud. She had been asked if she wanted something to eat, if she knew where she was, and so many other questions but refused to answer. They had left, left her alone, she was by herself. If she wanted to do anything, now was the time. She looked around, her surroundings were different, she recognized them, was she in the ER? No that couldn't' be, her chest started to tighten up on her, she couldn't remember being rescued, were her friends in on this to? She couldn't under why they would turn their backs on her? Had she made them mad? If that was true, she couldn't live like this, not with her friends being mad at her. Martin, Martin was still out there, she started breathing faster as panic started to settle in over her, she knew he was out there and ready to once again come and get her. She knew right there and then, the decision seemed so clear as to what she needed to do.

Fisher took a deep breath before stepping outside to deal with the media. He had promised them a press conference, and now he was over an hour late for it. As soon as he steeped outside, the cameras went on and flashes began going off, momentarily blinding him.

"Earlier this morning, Martin Richards confessed to the whereabouts of Dr. Abby Lockhart. The premises was searched and inside we found Dr. Lockhart. She was immediately transferred to County, and is in stable condition. That's all I have for you right now," it was an incredibly short conference, possibly the shortest one he had ever given, but Fisher was to tired to care. As he turned to walk back into the hospital he heard the multiple questions being fired at him, Fisher chose to ignore them, for once, everything could wait.


	21. Number Six

Thanks for all of your reviews! They really make my day!

Disclaimer: still dont own them.

"Following the rescue of Dr. Lockhart three days ago, we have obtained exclusive footage of the man accused of abducting her," Jake grabbed the remote and quickly turned the channel of the TV in the lounge. He couldn't stand it anymore, he had only been allowed to see Abby once since she had brought in. Dr. Winters had thought it might have helped, for Abby to see Jake, but they received nothing out of her. Jake had been warned not to touch her, to talk softly, and he had. He had done everything they asked, but all he wanted was to grab her and hold her in his arms, it wasn't allowed.

"Coffee?" Fisher's voice caught Jake by surprise, he thought he was in the lounge alone, apparently not.

"I'm fine,"

"Okay. Have you had a chance to see her yet?" Fisher asked taking a sip from the cup.

Jake looked back at the agent, wondering why he was still at County, he had done his job, why couldn't he just leave already? "I saw her last night." but then the question that Jake had been wanting to know popped into his head. "How was she when you found her?"

Fisher looked at him for a minute, before continuing. "Just like she was when we brought her in. She refused to talk, but at the same time we could tell she did not want anybody else in that room with her. When the paramedics came in, they didn't know how to approach her, how to handle her. They did fine though, got her here."

"What about the house?" Jake wanted to know every detail, anything so that once Abby wanted to talk, he could be there to listen, but to also know what parts Abby might be avoiding, refusing to tell.

"What about it?"

"Where did he keep her?"

"In a back room at first, a small room. At least that's what we believe, we found her blood in there. But we discovered her in a much nicer one, if you could call it that. She was just staring out the window when we got there," Fisher couldn't shake the image of Abby's look when he first got there, she hadn't made any sort of connection with anybody. Just kept looking out the window, until the paramedic pulled at her body. That was when she started fighting them, and that's when Fisher had to excuse himself from the room.

"Did he confess to what he did to her?" Jake wasn't sure if he wanted to know what happened, but at the same time, he needed to.

"Yeah, he told me,"

"Would any of it explain why she wont talk?"

"All of it could Jake. Martin Richards is a psychopath, unfortunately he took pleasure from Abby's pain."

Jake nodded, as yet another unanswered question popped into his head. "I, um, got a hold of Abby's chart, and I read that she had tried to kill herself," Jake kept his voice down, it was as if he had done something wrong by reading it. "Is that true?"

Fisher nearly choked on the coffee, Jake was not supposed to find out about the suicide attempt until well into Abby's recovery. He had not even considered that Jake might read the chart. Of course he would have, Jake was a doctor, and charts were how doctors got their information about a patient. About Abby.

"Agent Fisher?" Jake wasn't stupid, he knew by Fisher's stalling, that he was right, Abby had tried, and had obviously failed.

"Yeah its true. Apparently Abby took an overdose of sleeping pills, Martin caught her before she lost conciseness, forced her to take Ipecac and charcoal. According to Martin she was pretty sick, got really dehydrated."

Before Jake could ask anything else, the channel he had turned to, was broadcasting something else about Abby's case.

"Martin Richards, has vowed that Dr. Lockhart will be another one of his slain victims. Saying that even if he isn't the one to pull the trigger, Abby will become victim number six within a few days."

"What the hell does that mean?" Jake looked directly at Fisher, practically begging him to decipher what exactly Martin was trying to convey.

"I don't know, it doesn't sound good," Fisher whipped out his cell phone and quickly dialed a number, before leaving the lounge and Jake alone.


	22. Eye contact

As always, thanks for all of your reviews!

Disclaimer: nope, still dont own them!

Jan Winters stood outside her patients room, baffled. She had done everything in her power to get Abby to communicate, every trick in the book, and yet nothing had worked. Agent Fisher had informed her of everything that Martin had confessed to. No wonder Abby was so traumatized, hell Winters would probably do the same thing Abby was. If she didn't make any sort of connection to anybody, maybe it felt, to Abby at least, as if they couldn't hurt her.

Abby wasn't ready to talk yet, she didn't feel safe, she didn't feel secure, she certainly didn't know that woman and there was nothing on earth that could make her talk to the woman no matter what she did. It wasn't just her, it was everyone! She didn't want to talk to anybody, ever again. She just wanted them to leave her alone.

There was a knock at her door, and Dr. Winters walked in, plastering a fake smile on her face.

"Hi Abby, how are you today?" Winters pulled up a chair and took a seat beside Abby, who had yet to acknowledge her presence in any shape or form. She had started Abby on antidepressants the first day, it had not done anything. Winters had also been informed that Abby Lockhart was as stubborn as they came, even if she hadn't been told, Winters could have figure that one out the first time she met Abby.

"You know Abby, we don't have to talk about what happened, not just yet. We could talk about anything you'd like. Your friends down in the ER all want to talk to you, come up and see you. Or would you rather go down and visit them there? We don't have to go to the ER, you can go anywhere you want, your free to do whatever you want. Why don't you tell me where you want to go Abby, because if I were you, I would be getting sick of this room." Winters watched, desperately hoping for something, anything, to show that Abby was listening, but it seemed as though the doctor had tuned her out again.

Abby didn't want to play the little shrinks games, the games and tricks that she learned on her psyche rotation she knew they couldn't hold her and once she was cleared medically she could go home, away from anyone including those who could and would randomly hurt her.

"Dr. Lewis was considering releasing you from the hospital tomorrow, what do you think of that? Do you want to go home Abby? Do you feel safe there?"

Of course, she wanted to go home, but the question of being safe remained? Abby knew that she would never feel safe again, not in the ER, not anywhere in the hospital, not with Jake and not at home. It was a horrible feeling, vulnerability. Just because Martin was in jail, at least that's what they had told her, didn't mean someone else wasn't out there looking for her. She absolutely could not face another abduction, she had to stop giving them the opportunity for anybody to come up and randomly take her. She had a plan to put all those chances to a permanent end, if she wasn't there to take, how could they?

"Okay, I'll come by later and check on you, do you need anything before I go?" Winters asked as she checked the settings on the IV pump. "Alright Abby, I'll see you later then." and with that, she turned around and left, getting no closer to helping Abby then when she had first entered the room ten minutes earlier.

As soon as she turned the corner, head down once again reading over Abby's chart, she ran right into Fisher.

"Oh Dr. Winters, I'm sorry," he said, realizing who he bumped into.

"It alright, I'm guessing you're here to see how Dr. Lockhart is?"

"Should I even ask?"

"No change, I cannot get her to talk for the life of me. She refuses to acknowledge anybody, including Jake and her friends. I am at a loss of what to do,"

"Can I try something?" Winters looked up at him, not knowing exactly where he was going with this. "Let me try and talk to her, just for the hell of it,"

"Sure why not, nothing else is working. Hold on though, I cant send a male in there alone." Winter turned around looking for Abby's nurse. "Anna, can you go with Agent Fisher to check on Dr. Lockhart? I need to go and talk with Dr. Lewis." the nurse nodded and led Fisher towards Abby's room, as Winters headed downstairs.

"Don't touch her, don't raise your voice," Anna rattled off, as if she had done multiple times before.

"I know."

Abby was still sitting in bed when another knock came at the door, of all people to walk in, she did not expect it to be Agent Fisher, the man who had rescued her, Anna had also walked in but stood in the corner. Abby heard saw him walking towards her, heading for the chair that Winters had left earlier, but the main thing that had caught her attention was what was underneath Fisher's coat, sitting on his hip. It would be all to easy, all she had to do was wait until he sat down next to her.

"Hi Dr. Lockhart," he spoke soft as he slowly walked over to her side. "Its good to see you again. I just wanted to let you know that you are completely safe now, he cant hurt you anymore. I won't let him, Jake wont, nobody will." he ad sat down, pushing his coat behind him as he did.

It was now or never, if Abby did it now, he would never see it coming, and if she didn't, she might never get a chance like this again. In one quick motion, her left arm shot out from underneath the blankets and towards her target. But what scared Fisher more, was that while she was doing it, she had actually looked him directly in the eye. As if she was daring him to stop her, to deny her of what she wanted.

She grabbed it and jumped out of the bed, ripping out her IV as she did so, but Abby didn't care, she didn't feel the pain.

Before Fisher knew what had happened, he knew now that both him and Abby were in a lot of trouble. For now, Abby had his gun, and she was aiming it at her head.

"We need help in here!" Fisher heard Anna scream, obviously seeing the same thing, it was hard not to. In a matter of seconds, the room was full of various medical personal, including two doctors and a number of nurses.

"Abby, honey, give him back the gun, we just want to help you!" but Abby was not listening. Here she was, a gun in her hands, and about to try and kill herself for the second time in less then a month. She was actually in control of something now, she could do whatever she wanted and nobody could stop her. As she thought back on everything that had happened, Abby had totally forgotten about Fisher, or where he was, or the fact that he was trained to safely disarm men that outweighed Abby by at least two hundred pounds, taking the gun away from her wouldn't be easy, but it wouldn't be hard either.

Fisher waited for the opportune moment and when he saw it, he took it. Just as fast as Abby had taken the gun, Fisher grabbed her arm, and attempted to grab it back, and in doing so he seemed to have momentarily stunned her. Abby quickly regained some control, but didn't have enough of it to bring the gun to her head, she only got it half way when the gun shot was heard.


	23. A chance?

Disclaimer: still, nothing, I do not own them.

Winters, Kerry, Susan and Jake were all in the lounge disusing other treatment options for Abby, when Winters' pager suddenly went off. Susan watched as her face suddenly lost all of its color, and immediately both her and Jake knew something had happened.

"It's Abby, something happened, they're bringing her down here now," all four flew out of the lounge, heading to meet them at the elevators.

"Sam, clear a trauma room!" Kerry shouted.

The staff anxiously awaited the arrival of the elevator into the ER. Patience was not something that any of them had right now. And within minutes of those door opening they were on their way down the hall, all of them had their own questions of how something like this could happen but none of them waited to answer them.

Through the double doors of Trauma one they rolled the gurney doctors and nurses working in tandem to discover what injuries lie being the exterior surface of this well worn and ragged body. Once again they all had to swallow horrible feeling that accompanied working on one of their own. Lines where started, medicine to stabilize her falling blood pressure was given and they started to squeeze in units of blood to try to get ahead of the blood that was pouring from the holes in her stomach.

"She needs an airway Kerry," Pratt said, as he kept a close eye on the monitors.

Kerry nodded and grabbed the necessary tools to intubate Abby, "5 of sux and 10 of atomidate," she announced as she went to Abby's head. Kerry was surprised to see Abby actually making direct eye contact with her. "We're going to help you Abby, just hold on for us," she whispered watching Sam administer the medicine.

"Kerry," for the first time in over three weeks, Abby's voice was heard. But it wasn't the same voice they were use to. Her voice was scared and weak, not at all confident like it use to be. It caused everyone in the room, to stop, and become silent, the only sound was coming from the frantic beeping of the monitors. She didn't say much more at that moment, but tears began to fall. "Don't," her oxygen level was falling dangerously low now, they didn't have time to argue with her, and it seemed as though Abby didn't have the energy to speak anymore.

Kerry, like everyone else in that trauma room, needed to hear no more words, they knew and understood perfectly well what Abby was telling them, she didn't want their help.

"Abby.." she started knowing that Abby would know that Kerry had to do it. The color of Abby's face was deathly pale, but it was not that which was scaring Kerry, but the fact that Abby's lips were blue. Kerry couldn't waste any more time, the lack of oxygen was starting to take effect on Abby's frail body.

"No" she reached up to push Kerry's hand, and the tube that would possibly save her life, away. Kerry watched as Abby attempted to form her next sentence. "Kerry, please don't," it was hardly a whisper, and if it weren't for the complete silence aside from the frantic beeping of the machines and monitors, nobody would have heard Abby's voice, Abby's plea. And those were her last words before she completely lost consciences. Nobody said anything while Kerry guided the tube down her throat. Her emotions being thrown many different directions. Abby wanted to die, she'd made it crystal clear, and there was Kerry, torn between the two options. Do her job or fail. Save her friend or respect her wishes. Her soul was torn, and it reflected so clearly in her eyes. Finally, after precious seconds, she gritted her teeth, and set the tube in Abby's throat.

"I'm in," she said, and everyone went back to work. Still not able to believe that Abby had actually spoken to them, but what was still even more shocking was that Abby had tried to kill herself, and she might still have. She was not out of the woods yet, not even close.

Emergency medicine was a race against the clock and for one of their own it made that race seem even more short, ever minute precious in keeping her from tumbling over the edge, she was on the brink of death. Gun shot wounds were serious and where the bullet entered was just the start of the story, an ultrasound was ordered to see if they could find a trail, the path that the bullet would have taken as it ripped it's way through her body. Blood filled her abdominal cavity, it was as if everything that they were giving her was pooling in there, but from where the entrance wound was she couldn't have hit her spleen or had the bullet ricocheted off another organ, or bony structure of the body to cause even more hidden damage.

Dubenko was the surgeon on call, called down to help, the victim whose name he hadn't learned before leaving the surgical floor, all he had was a 9-1-1 to the ER on his pager. Once he was inside, things looked grim and he knew it. Abby's body was pale compared to what he normally saw when he saw the intern working in the ER.

It settled in over everyone that Abby was the one who needed to have the will to fight this and it broke their hearts to think that she might not have that will left inside her right now after everything that she had been through, everything that she had fought to overcome, the accumulation of her hard work, had all come down to whether or not she had the will to fight this.

Everyone let out a giant sigh and tears started to flow once again as the door to the elevator closed with Dubenko and it's precious cargo on it's way up to the OR. No one wanted to think that this was real, it was a kick in the gut, insult added to injury that someone could have broken such a beautiful spirit so badly.

Hours passes, the long wait slowly passing by, pacing occurred in the ER, staff downed coffee and a runner went up every 10 to 15 minutes no one waiting to wait for them to call down with news, they all needed to know as soon as they could how she was doing, if she made it through the surgery all right, if they would still have their beloved friend in the morning.

Dubenko worked frantically to fix the extensive damage left, one gun shot a single gunshot had done a lot of damage to Abby's fragile internal organs. The way that the gun had been aimed from the struggle, sent it at an angle up and through her body, her liver was bleeding profusely, which they stopped by removing a portion of it, a kidney had been hit and was no longer making urine, a sign that it was going to have to come out, it was no longer viable. The damage to her intestines was extensive several holes had been ripped it had been nearly severed in a few places and after several long and grueling hours, struggling to keep up with the blood loss as he made the repairs, he honestly didn't know how Abby was going to pull through this.

She was taken to the ICU and word was sent downstairs that for now, Abby was in critical condition and no one could say for sure what was going to happen or how she was going to fair from the damage that had been inflicted. No one would dare use the word self-inflicted, no that just wasn't acceptable to them, something had cause their friend to snap and while they may never know, Abby knew the reason and perhaps with a little faith, a whole lot of prayers, and fast medical attention she stood a shot of having the chance to tell them what had caused that.


	24. Thirtyfive minutes

**okay, I'm going to put the author's note at the bottom this time!**

**Disclaimer: don't own them!**

Abby was white as a ghost on the sheets, and everything was so clinical, from the monotonous beep of the heart monitor which should have been reassuring, to the ivory and cream of the walls and the floor. The sun was just starting to rise, when Susan entered the ICU room. She thought back to medical school and remembered hearing something about how natural sunlight helped critically ill patients recover, hopefully it would do the same thing for Abby.

Abby had come out of surgery hours earlier, but Susan was only just now allowed into the room to see her. The sight of her, despite Susan's years in the ER, and thick armor she had developed in dealing with human tragedy and human hurt, stole her breath. Abby was intubated, a ventilator forcing air into her lungs, while Abby offered not even an attempt at drawing a breath on her own. Multiple IV's hung from various locations, all delivering life saving medicine into Abby's body. Susan didn't need to look at the IV bags to know what they were, she could already knew.

"Hi Abby," she whispered as she grabbed the empty seat, and pulled it over to Abby's bedside before sitting down. "I don't know if you can hear me or not... I mean, we always tell the families of our patients that... you know. You know what I mean, and that's why you've got to stay here Abby. We need you around here. Hell, I need you around here." she paused, trying to find the words. "Abby, when you first left, the ER fell apart, and it stayed apart for three weeks, until we heard you were safe, on your way back. For the first time in a long time the staff could focus, and suddenly there were smiles. None of us knew exactly how you'd be, but you were still breathing, you were alive. We couldn't wait to see you, everyone had been prepared for the worst, but we were still praying for you, that you'd be back. Even when the feds told us there wasn't hope, even when common sense agreed with them, we couldn't give up on you. Jake, Carter, everyone had decided that no matter what, the moment you were back, we'd watch out for you, wouldn't let you out of our sights. We tried to laugh, we knew how much you would resent it, but God Abby, we need you here." another pause, and Susan brought her hand up to wipe away the tears. "Abby, I know we're sometimes hard on you. You never get the credit you deserve, but you're the best damned doctor we've got now. Luka's impulsive, you need to level him out, and someone's got to keep Carter in line, show up the other residents, maybe make me look like something other than a complete failure as a leader. You've been through tough shit, but you're Abby. You will pull through this. You have to. I need you to. You know we need you here. Even when you were a nurse, an OB nurse at that, you had a way with the people around here. You can keep your head, and you can deal with people, the patients, their families, us. That's rare. Just don't leave us now. Not like this. You can't go like this. So you're going to wake up, you're going to open your eyes and prove them all wrong, prove the surgeons and the cops, and everyone who thought you wouldn't pull through that you are stronger than that. And we'll find you a shrink, or a guru, or whatever it takes to help you get better, and you're never going to scare us like that again. You're going to find some great guy, a great guy like Jake. Someone who makes Carter look like a bump and Luka a chump, and you're going to be happy, and you're going to grow old, and you're going to be fine."

Susan squeezed Abby's hand, then released it, and just sat there for a moment or two, just praying in the silence, not in words, just ideas. Abby would be fine, Abby had to be fine. Abby was always fine. It was her lot in life to at least be fine. No matter how crappy things were. Abby would be okay, perfectly fine and normal, just give it a bit of time. Susan reached out to Abby's face, to brush away a stray bit of her brown hair, and as she did so, the heat of her friend's face shot through her hand. Abby was roasting. God. She was too hot. Way too hot. Immediately the doctor in Susan began taking over trying to figure out what had happened. It was painfully obvious. Septic shock. It made perfect sense. GSW to the abdomen, perforated intestines. Her sudden onset of fever, the way her body was shaking, not as in Abby was seizing, but shaking as in she was cold. Yet she had many blankets piled on top of her. Susan's gaze left Abby and onto one of the many monitors attached to her, recording every single beat of her heart. Her heart was beating, true, but beating way to fast. "Shit," Susan muttered to herself as Abby's heart rate continued to increase. It was right at about 112 now. Not good. Very not good. Very specifically, bad. Abby was in for a long haul. If she made it. And if she was in septic shock, her chances of survival had just drastically declined. Not good at all.

"Can I get a nurse in here?" Susan called into the hallway, not knowing if they were aware of the fever. Susan pressed her hand against Abby's cheek, from the feel of her face, Abby's temperature must have soared up passed 104. Give it time and she would be roasting.

"Abby, don't do this to me. No, come on, just... I don't know... Think cold thoughts," Susan mumbled franticly, wondering why the nurse was taking so long. "Just... hold on. I'll only be a minute," she promised her comatose friend as she left the room to go to the nurses' station and drag someone in there.

"Hey, one of you, all of you, someone who actually bothers to... Look. The patient in room 603, I'm pretty sure she's septic. Someone maybe want to try checking in on your patients considering this specific one is currently comatose and running a high fever," Susan was livid, if any of her nurses ignored a critical patient in her department, Susan would murder them.

"Ma'am, please calm down, we know what we're doing."

"No, I won't calm down. When was the last time one of you took her temperature?"

"Who's the patient?" one of them asked, not bothering to look up from a chart.

"I just told you, maybe if you would have been paying attention you might have caught that! Abby Lockhart, do you know who she is? Or do I need to describe her current condition so that somebody will get off their ass and go and check on her!" Susan practically screamed at the nurse.

"Look miss, just stop making a fuss before we have to call security," the head nurse said in a soothing but firm tone. When Susan's tirade continued, she was about to pick up the phone to follow through on her threat, but another nurse piped up.

"That's Dr. Lewis. ER chief, you probably shouldn't... um..."

"Look, all I'm asking of you, is for somebody to please to just go in and check on Abby. She's hot, she's running a fever. If I have to, I will run down to the ER, bring one of my nurses up, and we will treat her until Dr.Dubenko gets here." the head nurse seemed to suddenly understand what Susan was telling them, and nodded her head before standing up and walking around the desk, to grab the thermometer and headed back to Abby's room.

"Page Dr. Dubenko now," the nurse ordered, and her coworker instantly complied, picking up the phone and dialing the now familiar number.

"Hey Abby, hold on we're going to help you," Susan took her hand as the nurse stuck the thermometer in Abby's ear and waited for the telltale beep. It seemed to take forever before the nurse pulled it out to read the digital display.

"104.3" she said, knowing that if they had been watching Abby more carefully, they might have been able to catch it before her fever got so high.

"Riley?" both Susan and the nurse, who Susan now knew as Riley turned around to see yet another nurse standing in the doorway. "Dr. Dubenko is in surgery, he said he'll be down as soon as he can,"

"Thanks June, can you bring several cool wash clothes please," Riley asked as she stripped the blankets from Abby, throwing them on the floor. It did not escape her how wet they were, Abby had soaked through them, and her hospital gown. She began thinking, how long had it acutally been since somebody had checked on Abby?

"Here Riley," June walked back in and together the two nurses covered Abby's body with multiple rags. "There ya go honey," Susan heard Riley say to Abby, as she wiped the sweat from Abby's forehead. Riley knew Abby's story, she knew how much she was loved at County, and the guilt she was feeling for letting Abby's fever go unnoticed for God knew how long, was playing on her conscious. Riley wasn't Abby's nurse, that was Jesse, but Riley was the charge nurse, she was ultimately reasonable for the nurses on her shift. Jesse would be hearing from her shortly.

Susan had turned her attention back to Abby, when suddenly the monitors started sounding, indicating something was terribly wrong. Her heart rate had shot up in the 150's. Her blood pressure was way to low, 60/40 to be exact.

"Abby.." Susan whispered, waiting for what she was certain would come next. "Not yet," she pleaded, keeping her eyes on the monitors. She heard Riley call for something, but didn't know what, she was to busy concentrating on Abby.

More nurses came flooding in, doing their jobs. But one nurse in particular caught Susan's eye, she was wheeling in the crash cart. "Just in case," Susan said to herself, trying to stay calm.

" Would someone get her some damned Tylenol before her brain fries!" Susan's eyes were blazing with a combination of fear, fury and determination. She didn't know what to do, well she did, after all she was a doctor, but she wasn't sure if anything happened to Abby, if she could keep her head level. However, if Dubenko wasn't there to do his job, she would, "And we need to get her BP up. STAT. " Nurses were everywhere, skittering from place to place, following barked orders and administering powerful medications, including more bags of saline, D5W, and of course, more blood. Doing anything they could to get Abby stable.

Then came the sound everyone in the room had been dreading to hear, Abby's heart had stopped, she was leaving them, and leaving them fast.

"She's in V Fib," one of the nurses called out, and the crash cart was suddenly at Susan's side.

"Shit, paddles," she said, then accepted the devices, "charge to two hundred, CLEAR." Susan squeezed her eyes shut as she saw Abby's tiny body jump from the gurney.

"Nothing."

" Come on Abby, two fifty." all hands went up in the air, as another powerful surge of electricity surged through Abby's body.

"Maybe... no." Riley spoke.

"Three hundred." She once again applied the paddles to her friends' chest, hoping beyond hope that she could do her job. That she could get Abby back.

"We've got a rhythm. Pulse. Wait, no. Lost it." Hope was fading fast, but everyone kept going. June was pounding on Abby's chest, as more and more drugs were being pumped into her.

"Damn it Abby! Go again," Susan had tears in her eyes, she was losing her best friend.

Just then, Dr. Dubenko rushed in. It took a second for him to fully realize what was happening. He took in the scene momentarily before jumping in.

"What the, Dr. Lewis, step back from the patient." the patient, he had said it that way, only to disconnect himself, to distance himself from Abby.

"Dr. Dubenko, I'm just a little busy here, she said urgently, "Charge to three hundred again. Abby don't do this, not now!"

"Step away Dr. Lewis. This is my patient, and I will treat her." Dubenko had walked over to the side of the bed, had even taken over compressions. He was going to bring Abby back, the other was just not an option right then.

"CLEAR," Susan said again, and once more shocked her friend, watching the quick convulsion, then, without waiting to hear if the effort had restored Abby's heartbeat, she turned to face Dr. Dubenko, looked him in the eyes, handed him the paddles and walked out.

Dubenko took over immediately, having not been briefed on Abby's current condition. He had received an urgent page while in surgery to come to Abby's room, and that was it. He had handed the case over to another surgeon as soon as he could, and quickly scrubbed out, before running to Abby's room. "What the hell happened?" he asked, watching the monitors.

"She spiked a fever, 104.3, BP was 60/40," Riley rattled off.

"Septic shock" he immediately concluded, "lets go three fifty. Clear," this time Dubenko pressed the paddles to her chest never noticing Susan watching the scene unfold through the window.

She stood at the window, watching through blinds someone had forgotten to close. They shocked Abby again and again, sometimes there was a pulse for a moment, only to slip back into V fib, other times, she flat lined for a moment and her heart returned to its frenzied attempt at a beat. She could not bear to see this, but she could not bear to look away and know that she might miss that last moment. Or that small miracle. She couldn't work on Abby any more, Susan knew what was bound to happen. They would not get Abby back it was as simple as that. They couldn't fight for a life, when the person didn't want their life to be saved. Suddenly, she couldn't watch anymore, couldn't witness Abby's death. She collapsed onto the ground, her back into the wall, her head in her hands, she couldn't bear it anymore. Somehow she managed to tune out the horrible sound emitting from the heart monitor.

"Lockhart don't do this," Dubenko pleaded, racking his brain trying to figure out what else he could do, anything to get her heart started again. "How long has she been down?" he asked, not looking up from Abby. He knew he had done everything possible for her, that if Abby didn't want to fight with them, there was no point in trying to bring her back.

There was an eerie silence, nobody wanted to answer the question, for they all knew Abby had been down far to long.

"How long has she been down dammit?" he shouted so loud, that the nurses not in the room, heard him and nearly jumped twenty feet in the air.

"Thirty-five minutes," said Riley.

Dubenko just stood there, not knowing what to do. He had the paddles in his hands, they were charged, ready to send more electricity through Abby's body. Yet they had yet to restart her heart, June was still pounding on her chest, as the monitors recorded no heartbeat. He knew, the fight was over.

"Stop," he ordered not caring if he sounded rude. Dubenko shook his head, looked down at Abby's still face, then blankly at the air in front of him. He hated loosing patients, it felt like such a failure, and such a waste. It was worse when it was someone he knew. Then he made what he considered the hardest move he had made in his career. He put the paddles down on their base.

"Time of death, 16:33," then took her chart from her bed, and signed his name. Setting the chart down, he stepped up and grabbed the sheet and gently pulled it up past Abby's shoulders and over her face. He took a deep breath and turning around, he looked up to see the nurses all still in the room, tears apparent in their eyes. Abby was not just like every other patient, she had been their friend, this was going to take a long time to get through. He reached up and turned off all the monitors, the noise to much for him right then.

"Dr. Lewis?" he asked Riley, wondering where Susan had gone.

"I believe she is out in the hallway. Do you want us to.." she left it open, Dubenko would know she was asking if she should prepare the body. No longer Abby, but the body, the phrase sent shivers through Riley's spine.

"No, I'll take care of her," he said before nodding his thank you to the nurses and walking out of the room, looking for Susan.

He found her a few rooms down, head in her hands, sitting on the floor. He collected his nerves before approaching her.

"Susan," he began. Immediately her head shot up, Dubenko could tell she had been crying. "Susan," he didn't know what to say, couldn't form the words, couldn't speak them. "I'm sorry," he had expected her to shout out at him, to yell at the nurses, to do something, but all he got was a small nod. All Dubenko could conclude was that Susan had known, she had known the moment she had handed them the paddles. She had literally put her friends life in his hands, but at the same time she hadn't. Abby had died, even before Dubenko had pronounced it, and her best friend had known it.

"Can I?" she whispered, standing up.

"Go ahead, take as long as you want." he paused. "Dr; Lewis, would you like me to inform your staff?"

Susan stopped and thought about it. Yes, she desperately wanted him to do it, that would be the easy way out. But it was her staff, her family, Abby's family. She had to be the one to inform them of their friend's death, no matter how hard it was. "No, I'll do it," and then she disappeared into Abby's room, leaving the surgeon by himself. He stood there for a minute or two, before turning and promptly punching his fist into the wall.

Susan let the tears fall as she walked over to Abby's bedside. It disturbed her to see the sheet over her face, it was final, death was so final, the sheet only added to that feeling. Susan reached over, and pulled back the sheet, revealing Abby's pale face. The tube still down her throat, the tube Abby had practically begged Kerry not to insert. The last words she ever spoke. She reached over, and grabbed it before, pulling the plastic out, and throwing it to the ground.

She took Abby's hand again, knowing this time that the veins inside it held stagnant blood. That the spirit which had, for so long, inhabited this shell and been her friend, had fled.

"I don't know why I'm talking this time," Susan said honestly, blinking back tears, "because I know you can't hear me now, but God, you've got to be somewhere. I refuse to believe you're just gone." She took a deep breath, then continued, "I hope you tried. I hope you fought as hard as you could, but I know you aren't hurting now. I know that at least, that's gone. You're.. you're free, you're truly safe now. I, I don't know how I can do this. I'm going to have to watch them bury you, I don't know how I'm going to do that, but I know that I have to. And I don't know how I'm going to be able to face this place again knowing you died here, but I know I'm not the only one who lost someone within these walls, and I know that life goes on, but right now, I'm not sure how. I'm not the only one who's going to miss you, you do know that. Luka will probably flip out, Carter... I don't know how he'll react, but I know you two were close. All the nurses will miss you. Maybe we can convince Haleh to sing. All the other interns, they really looked up to you, you'd seen it all before, done it all before. I know the ER will keep running, but it's never going to be the same. Every day when I walk in, I expect to see Mark around some corner, and it's been years. I'm going to look for you too, wonder why your name isn't on the board, why your lunch isn't molding in the back of the fridge, why your locker is being used by someone else. And then it's going to hit me. Like a ton of bricks. And then I'll grit my teeth and go on. And I'll try to have your compassion with patients, like I've tried to have Mark's way with the staff. Maybe I'll manage, and maybe I'll be a better doctor for it, but even if it does, it won't be worth it. You've saved so many people, and you've done a lot of thankless work, but you've always been there to do it, been willing to do it. You're a healer Abby, and most of us can't say that. I'm getting angry at you. It kills me to admit it, because I know I have no right, but I miss you, and you've only been gone... God I can't... No. This isn't fair. This sucks every way you look at it. You aren't suffering any more, but the fact of the matter is that you shouldn't have been suffering to begin with. I want to kill the bastard that hurt you, that made you this miserable. It's not just a matter of anger, I want him to hurt as badly as he hurt you, but there's more to it, I want to make sure that when he dies, he knows exactly why. I want to make him as afraid as you must have been, and I know that this isn't what you would want, you'd want us to move on and grow as people, but you know what, I'm human and I can hate, and I hate him. And I want you back, and nothing I can do will bring you back. And I hate myself because there's not a damned thing any of us could do for you while you were with us, and there's not a damned thing we can do now that you're not. So you tell me, what do we do now? I know you cant speak, and asking you to send me a sign is just plain lunacy, but wherever you are, just here this, you will be missed, and you will be remembered, and everyone here, if they have half a brain, will know how fucking lucky they were to know you." Susan stopped when she realized that the tears she had been fighting so hard to restrain had left her cheeks shining under the harsh lights of the hospital, after wiping them away, she clenched her jaw for a moment, and realized it was time to finish what she had started to say, "Abby, thank you, for being here, for being among us and putting up with us, and for gracing us with your presence, and I mean that in the least sarcastic way. You have given more than we could ever think to ask for, and more than we ever had a right to expect. We will always think of you, and miss you, and just know that you have touched this place. I'm trying to... I'm wondering how I'm going to tell them. Everyone down at the ER, and some of your old friends up in OB, and I guess everyone else will hear it from them. I don't know what to say. When Mark passed, we all went out and got smashed, but I don't think that would be the most appropriate way to say goodbye. So I guess I just go balls out and tell them, be frank like you always were. They're big kids, they can handle the truth I think." her tears were splashing onto Abby's cold hand, the IV still attached, still deleivering drugs. "Good bye Abby, and thank you for everything." she gave Abby's hand one more tight squeeze, before grabbing the sheet and covering Abby's face once more. It was hard to walk out of that room, but somehow Susan forced her legs to move, heading towards the elevator.

The ride was endless, she still had fresh tears streaming down her face. She looked at her watch, her goodbye to Abby had nearly lasted an hour, the last hour she would ever spend with her best friend. There would be no more girls night out, no more ice cream and coffee to gossip or de-stress from the pressures of being ER doctors, there simply would be no more Abby. The elevator came to a stop and Susan wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks with the sleeve of her white lab coat.

The ER was abnormally empty, a few patients here and there, but nothing major. It was if, whoever the higher being was, had deliberately made sure Susan could tell her staff, without interruption, of their friends passing.

"Dr. Lewis, we've been looking...are you okay?" Chuny instantly knew something was wrong, upon seeing how red Susan's eyes were. She knew Susan had been with Abby, but that was it.

"Chunny, can you please gather all of the staff, tell them to meet me in the lounge, I need to speak with them now," the nurse nodded and headed off, as Susan walked towards the lounge. Once inside, she instantly gravitated to Abby's locker, and leaned against it.

It took a good ten minutes for everyone to finally arrive, but they did.

"I just want everyone to know," no sense beating around the bush, how many different ways could you tell people that their friend had died. "Abby passed away about an hour ago," a large gasp was heard, nothing unexpected. "She became septic, her heart stopped, we tried everything, but Abby didn't want it, she didn't want to be here anymore." Susan looked up to see her staff. Luka had Sam wrapped in her arms, Carter was as white as a sheet, Ray had his head to the lockers, Pratt had stormed out of the room. Everyone seemed to be in a state of shock, the ER had once again experienced the loss of a family member. "Where's Jake?" Susan asked realizing that he was no longer in the room.

"He ran out," Luka offered. She nodded and left, searching for Jake.

She found him on the roof, sitting there, staring up at the sky, tears on his face.

"Jake," she started, taking a seat next to him, putting her arm around his shoulders. She looked down on the floor, a newspaper had caught her attention.

"Don't," he shrugged her arm off and stood, "Nothing you can say will justify this, Abby's dead Susan, what else can anyone do?" and with that he left her. Her gaze drifted down to the newspaper, the headline, a picture of Martin Richards, the man Susan Lewis now considered to be Abby Lockhart's murderer.

**AN- Alright, that's it for now! Time for more diabetes camp, if I get a chance I might consider writing more for this one, but it's not lookin to good right now! Thanks for everyone's reviews! Olivia, you know what I'm thinking about this chapter...thank you!**


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